An estimated 212,000 women were treated in the Nigeria’s health facilities for abortion related complications in 2015.
Similarly, another 285,000 had complications resulting from unsafe abortion but could not get adequate medical care.
IPAS Country Director Lucky Palmer disclosed this weekend at a three-day media training in Keffi, Nasarawa state.
The workshop, which centred on Women’s sexual reproductive health and rights/Global Gag Rule, had as participants editors and health/NGO correspondents.
Speaking at the session, Palmer said: “In Nigeria, studies have shown that the level of unintended pregnancy continues to be high, and about 56% of these unintended pregnancies are resolved by abortion, according to a 2015 study by Bankole, et al.
“An estimated 212,000 women were treated in the Nigerian health facilities for complications of induced abortion. In addition, an estimated 285,000 had complications from unsafe abortion serious enough to require treatment in health facilities, but did not obtain the care they needed.
“The GGR will not only hurt abortion access or access to contraception but other forms of heath care as well. In many developing countries, women get reproductive health care at the same health centre they receive all other care. This expanded GGR will hinder and possibly end the work of health-care providers who may be the only source for reproductive health care and a woman’s entry point for receiving a wide range of primary health services.”
Relying on the World Health Organisation(WHO) data, Palmer said: “25 million women a year, almost all of them from developing countries, will have an unsafe abortion because they lack access to safe, high-quality abortion care.
“There are 225 million women who want to avoid pregnancy but lack access to modern contraception. Death from pregnancy-related causes os the second-leading killer of teen girls, and women in the sub-saharan Africa are more at risk of injury or death from unsafe abortion.
“In 2008, there were estimated 47,000 deaths due to unsafe abortion every year, primarily in developing countries. Everyday, 830 women die from pregnancy or child-birth related complications.
“Africa is disproportionately affected, with nearly two-thirds of all abortion –related deaths.”
On the effect of the US-backed Global Gag Rule, he said it “hinders access to safe abortion services and puts women in vulnerable –left to resort to unsafe abortions, risking their health and even their lives because of the policy.”
