Ghana Court Fines Two Individuals for Illegal Abortion: A Spotlight on the Country’s Abortion Laws

By: Ebenezer Mensah
January 16, 2024

Ghana’s Assin Fosu Magistrate Court has fined a 40-year-old hairdresser and a 21-year-old carpenter GH¢4,800.00 each for their role in an illegal abortion. The case has brought to light the ongoing legal and ethical debates surrounding abortion in the country, where the procedure remains controversial and heavily regulated.

The Illegal Procedure
The hairdresser, Charlotte Asiedu, was found guilty of administering a harmful concoction to a 17-year-old student in an attempt to terminate the student’s 17-week pregnancy. This led to severe stomach pain and the death of the fetus, forcing the young woman to seek medical attention at a hospital.

Continued: https://bnnbreaking.com/politics/courts-law/ghana-court-fines-two-individuals-for-illegal-abortion-a-spotlight-on-the-countrys-abortion-laws/


Ghana – Student in critical condition after abortion attempt destroyed her womb

Saturday, 13 January 2024

The Assin Fosu District Court presided by His  Worship, Abdul Majid Iliasu has fined a 40-year-old hairdresser Gh¢4,800.00 for inducing a 17-year-old girl to commit abortion with a noxious abortion medication.

The convict, Charlotte Asiedu on count one, was charged with illegal abortion contrary to section 58 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act 29.

Continued: https://www.ghanaweb.live/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Student-in-critical-condition-after-abortion-attempt-destroyed-her-womb-1911992


Ghana – Dr Brookman-Amissah calls for action on abortion

Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
Dec - 05 - 2023

A former Minister of Health, Dr Eunice Brookman-Amissah, has said 30,000 women dying from abortion, a totally preventable cause of maternal mortality annually across the world, is unacceptable and needs to be resolved.

She likened the problem to 100 jumbo jet planes fully loaded with women crashing from the sky and killing everyone of them saying it was unacceptable especially “when we know how to prevent the carnage” and called for a country level action.

Continued: https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/health/ghana-news-dr-brookman-amissah-calls-for-action-on-abortion.html


Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah receives Right Livelihood award today

A ‘legend and reference point’ for reproductive rights in Africa, Brookman-Amissah’s 30 years of trailblazing work improved abortion access across the continent

Nov 29, 2023

Over the course of her career, Ghanaian physician and longtime Ipas leader Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah has earned an impressive array of titles—Ghana’s Minister for Health, Ghanaian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Ipas Vice President for Africa, and many more.

Today she adds a new title: Right Livelihood 2023 Laureate. At a televised awards ceremony in Stockholm, she will be honored for 30 years of trailblazing work that paved the way for liberalized abortion laws and improved abortion access in Africa.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/dr-eunice-brookman-amissah-receives-right-livelihood-award/


Ghana – Ministry of Education urged to review policy on abstinence

November 10, 2023

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has been called upon to review its policy on abstinence amongst school children to allow for preventive/contraceptive use sessions at school environment to safeguard pupils and students from unintended and teenage pregnancies.

The stakeholders, who made the call, said this would also help to address the increasing cases of unsafe abortion amongst adolescent girls in the country.

Continued: https://newsghana.com.gh/ministry-of-education-urged-to-review-policy-on-abstinence/


Ghana – Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah, longtime Ipas leader and abortion rights advocate, receives prestigious Right Livelihood Award

Ipas
Sept 28, 2023

Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah, a Ghanaian physician and advocate for safe abortion who helped lead Ipas’s work across Africa, is a recipient of this year’s Right Livelihood Award.

The award has honored courageous people solving global problems for over 40 years, and Right Livelihood’s jury selected Brookman-Amissah “for pioneering discussions on women’s reproductive rights in Africa, paving the way for liberalized abortion laws and improved safe abortion access.”

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/eunice-brookman-amissah-receives-right-livelihood-award/


Ghana – 6,000 Adolescents In Volta Region Pregnant – Stakeholders Urged To Address Trend

20-May-2023

According to Ghana Statistical Service data from the 2021 Population and Housing Census, about 79,733 girls in Ghana aged 12 to 17 have been in a union, either married or living together with a man. Out of this number, 25,999 are girls of junior high school-going age (12 to 14 years).

In the Volta Region, it states that one out of four girls are married or are in a union before 18 years. According to the GHS District Health Information Management System (DHIMS), over 6,000 girls got pregnant between 2020 and 2021 alone.

Continued: https://www.peacefmonline.com/pages/local/news/202305/487762.php


Ghana – Students opt for unsafe abortions despite legal services

Francis Kokutse 
17 May 2023

Despite the liberal nature of Ghana’s abortion laws, the prevalence of unsafe abortion is still high among female undergraduates, a group of researchers at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Hohoe has said.

The researchers said most undergraduate students resort to unsafe termination of pregnancy whenever they get pregnant, even more than once. The researchers pointed out that “the high prevalence of unsafe abortion among university undergraduates is particularly troubling, as it may also imply that more of the students engage in unprotected and unsafe sex”.

Continued: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20230514174120500


Ghana – Make family planning attractive to youth to curb unsafe abortions – PPAG

3 April 2023

The Plan Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) has called on authorities to present family planning attractively to the youth to help curb unsafe abortions resulting to maternal mortalities in the country.

It said unsafe abortions could be resolved if the youth were abreast with modern family planning method and did not resort to unskilled persons or used dangerous methods that could lead to complications including death.

Continued: https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Make-family-planning-attractive-to-youth-to-curb-unsafe-abortions-PPAG-1742927


Unsafe abortions, major contributor to maternal morbidity and mortality in Ghana – Lecturer

On Mar 14, 2023

Unsafe induced abortions are a significant contributor to maternal morbidity and mortality in Ghana which raises serious public health concerns, Dr Susan Ama Amuasi, a Lecturer at the Central University, has observed. 

She said with the growing number of young populations globally and an ever-changing sociocultural environment and circumstances, there was a tendency for unwanted pregnancies and abortions. 

Continued: https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2023/03/14/unsafe-abortions-major-contributor-to-maternal-morbidity-and-mortality-in-ghana-lecturer/