Knowledge and perception of the Nigerian Abortion Law by abortion seekers in south-eastern Nigeria

Abstract

One in four pregnancies worldwide is voluntarily terminated. Approximately 20 million terminations are performed under unsafe conditions, mostly in developing countries with restrictive abortion laws. A total of 100 consecutive abortion-seekers were interviewed, to ascertain their knowledge and perceptions on the Nigerian Abortion Law. The majority (55.0%) of the respondents were students. Most of them (97%) had at least secondary education and the majority (62.0%) were within the 20-24 years age range. Only 31.0% of the women interviewed were aware of the Nigerian Abortion Law. While 16% perceived the law as being restrictive, 2% opined that' it was alright'; 1% perceived it as very restrictive and 12% had no opinion on the abortion law. Knowledge of the abortion law had no significant relationship with either the educational level of the respondent or the number of previous pregnancy terminations and overall demand for abortion services. It is necessary to ensure a wide dissemination of the abortion law and its provisions to the Nigerian public, in order to arm them with the necessary information to participate actively in debates on abortion law reforms.

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding Medication Abortion among Regular Undergraduate Female Students in College of Social Sciences Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

“…Three percent and 2% of subjects had knowledge of misoprostol and mifiprostol, respectively. One percent of respondents had used misoprostol [22]. The difference in knowledge of the type of drug used for MA from the current study and this is may be due to difference in small sample and difference in participants.…”

“…According to El-Adas [20], of the 42 students, 33 knew a pharmacy and 4 knew a hospital where they could obtain Misoprostol to perform abortion. According to Adnima et al [22], thirty-three percent of subjects purchased their abortion drugs in a pharmacy. The difference in this study may be due to the fact that the abortion pill is not provided in the public or private pharmacy in our country and it is only available in government health facilities and private clinics.…”

Pattern and outcome of induced abortion in Abakaliki, Southeast of Nigeria

“…[18] Several studies have shown an increase prevalence of premarital sex among adolescents and contraceptives were rarely used owing to deep-seated cultural values, perceived risks of side-effects and provider bias. [210] A study in Lagos, Nigeria revealed that only 5% of adolescents with knowledge of contraception are users, whereas 85% of sexually active respondents were not bothered concerning contraception. [8] Majority of the patients in this study 59.0% (49/83), were not even aware of the different methods of contraception not to talk of usage.…”

“…[1] In Nigeria and most parts of Africa, abortion is highly restricted. [2] Consequently, women sought for clandestine means of terminating an unintended pregnancy thereby posing a great threat to their reproductive health and life. [1]…”

Perceptions on abortion and long-acting contraceptive use among women of reproductive age in selected Nigerian States: a cross-sectional study

“…Within the developing world, lack of access to family planning results within nearly 76 million unwanted pregnancies, 19 percent of which end in abortion [7,8,14], 11 percent of which are unsafe. Nigerian women get about 760,000 abortions per year, a rate of 25 abortions/1000 reproductive-age women [7,15], which resulted in about 20,000 deaths [7,8]. The poor practice of a safe and common medical procedure has been linked to these deaths, and the statistics are higher in countries where abortions are highly restricted by law [16], or where abortion is only allowed to save the life of the mother [15].…”