Venezuela – This Woman Performed Her Own Abortion — And Was Lucky To Survive

This Woman Performed Her Own Abortion — And Was Lucky To Survive
After barely surviving two illegal abortions, Beatriz sells birth control on the black market to help other women in Venezuela, as the economic and political crisis deepens.

Karla Zabludovsky, BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on February 28, 2019

CARACAS, Venezuela — With a flick of the wrist, Beatriz pulled out two strips of birth control pills from her top.

Contraceptives are in short supply in Venezuela, with most pharmacies sold out, so it’s largely up to black marketeers like Beatriz to supply women with them. And despite their exorbitant price tag — on the street, $1 gets you a month’s birth control, but that represents a week’s salary — the pills remain highly sought after.

Continued: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/karlazabludovsky/venezuelas-crisis-is-pushing-women-to-have-illegal-abortions

Ghana – The battle of values: Health practitioners make medical decisions based on personal values

The battle of values: Health practitioners make medical decisions based on personal values

By Mathias Aboba
Dec 23, 2018

Women seeking legal abortion care including life-threatening complications due to abortion (post-abortion complication) or after suffering miscarriage may be denied care by some health service providers in Ghana due to their religious or moral beliefs, a research finding has revealed.

According to the study, which looked at Conscience-based Objection to abortion care or Conscientious Objection to abortion (CO) conducted in two regions in Ghana Volta and Eastern Regions by reproductive rights advocacy network, Global Doctors for Choice Ghana, a relatively high number of doctors, midwives, nurses and physician assistants who have received training in comprehensive abortion care will rather exercise their right to refuse to provide legal abortion services to women in need due to their religious or morale beliefs.

Continued: https://www.newsghana.com.gh/the-battle-of-values-health-practitioners-make-medical-decisions-based-on-personal-values/

Video: Malawi Government Considers Liberalizing Abortion Laws

Malawi Government Considers Liberalizing Abortion Laws

November 09, 2018
Lameck Masina

Malawi's government is considering a proposal to liberalize the country's abortion laws. Currently, abortion is allowed only when a woman's life is in danger, and many pregnant women turn to risky, unsafe procedures to end unwanted pregnancies. However, the draft law faces stiff opposition from religious leaders who say abortion is a sin. Lameck Masina has the story from Blantyre.

Continued: https://www.voanews.com/a/malawi-government-considers-liberalizing-abortion-laws/4651627.html

Clandestine Abortion in Zimbabwe Contributes to Maternal Medical Complications

Clandestine Abortion in Zimbabwe Contributes to Maternal Medical Complications
Four in 10 Women Who Have an Abortion Experience Complications That Require Treatment

October 25, 2018
News Release

Nearly all abortions in Zimbabwe are clandestine, with many resulting in complications that require medical treatment. However, half of women who experience complications from unsafe abortion in Zimbabwe never receive the care they need. These findings come from a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences Clinical Trials Research Centre (UZCHS-CTRC), the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care and the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute. The study, which provides the first comprehensive estimates of the incidence of abortion and postabortion care in Zimbabwe, was conducted in an effort to understand the potential impact of unsafe abortion on maternal injury and death in a country that has among the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world. The findings are based on surveys of all health facilities in the country, as well as experts on abortion and women seeking postabortion care—which includes treatment for complications from unsafe abortion and miscarriage—and were published in the journals PLOS ONE and BMJ Open.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2018/clandestine-abortion-zimbabwe-contributes-maternal-medical-complications

DRC – September 27, 2018 News Release

Complications from Unsafe Abortion Common in Kinshasa
New evidence demonstrates need to improve access to safe abortion and postabortion care

September 27, 2018
News Release

A new study using data from 2016 found that the majority of women in Kinshasa who seek postabortion care following an unsafe abortion experience severe or moderate complications. In 2016, 37,900 women obtained treatment for complications from abortion in Kinshasa, the capital and largest urban area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Kinshasa and the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, documents for the first time the immediate health consequences of complications resulting from unsafe abortion among women admitted to health facilities in Kinshasa, as well as the type of treatment these patients received. Researchers found that women receiving postabortion care were most commonly treated using outdated methods not recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2018/complications-unsafe-abortion-common-kinshasa

Women are dying from backstreet abortions. But reforms to Malawi’s 157-year-old laws are stuck

Women are dying from backstreet abortions. But reforms to Malawi's 157-year-old laws are stuck

By Lameck Masina for CNN
Sep 25, 2018

Blantyre, Malawi — David Minyatso holds the voter registration card of his late wife, Selina.

The last time he saw her, she had just found out she was pregnant with their fourth child.

"She told me she was feeling symptoms of pregnancy. She left for her home village two days later to visit her parents," 36-year-old Minyatso said, standing in the doorway of their thatched-roof home in Kaseleka village, his daughters playing in the dirt yard outside.

continued: https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/26/health/malawi-abortion-law-as-equals-africa-intl/index.html

First Study on the Incidence of Abortion Among Ugandan Adolescents Released

First Study on the Incidence of Abortion Among Ugandan Adolescents Released
Research Sheds Light on Abortion and Postabortion Care Experiences

Sept 11, 2018

A new study by researchers at the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute and Uganda’s Makerere University documents, for the first time, abortion rates and the severity of abortion-related complications among Ugandan adolescents aged 15–19. The study, published in Contraception, found that an estimated 57,000 abortions took place among Ugandan adolescents in 2013. The researchers also found that adolescents seeking postabortion care for complications resulting from an unsafe abortion or miscarriage did not face greater disadvantages in their abortion care experiences, compared with women older than 20. However, among those seeking postabortion care, unmarried women, including unmarried adolescents, were more likely than married women to experience severe complications.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2018/first-study-incidence-abortion-among-ugandan-adolescents-released

The staggering cost of treating unsafe abortions in Kenya

The staggering cost of treating unsafe abortions in Kenya

Posted By: bethnyaga
September 4, 2018

Policy makers in the country are being confronted by the harsh reality of the staggering cost of treating unsafe abortions in Kenya.

According to a research by the Ministry of Health which was published in February 2018, the treatment of unsafe abortion complications cost the public health system a total of Ksh 432.7 million approximately 5.1 million US Dollars in health personnel salaries and medical supplies.

Continued: http://www.kbc.co.ke/the-staggering-cost-of-treating-unsafe-abortions-in-kenya/

Kenya – 5 Things you need to know about backstreet abortions – Number 3 will shock you!

5 Things you need to know about backstreet abortions – Number 3 will shock you!

By Kagweni Micheni -
September 3, 2018

According to the World Health Organization, Unsafe abortions are one of the four main causes of maternal mortality and morbidity in the world.

An estimated 22 million abortions continue to be performed unsafely each year worldwide, resulting in the death of an estimated 47,000 women and disabilities for an additional 5 million women annually. Most of these unsafe abortion occur in developing countries where abortion is legally highly restricted.

Continued: https://mpasho.co.ke/5-things-need-know-backstreet-abortions-number-3-will-shock/

Sri Lankan Women Too Scared to Seek Legal Post-Abortion Care

Sri Lankan Women Too Scared to Seek Legal Post-Abortion Care
Abortion is illegal in almost all cases in Sri Lanka, but it’s perfectly legal for women to seek help after complications from backstreet abortions. Still, the fear of stigma and discrimination prevents many from coming forward.

Written by Sophie Cousins
Published on Dec. 11, 2017

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – When Pabita* met her boyfriend, she thought he was the one. He told her he loved her and she dreamed of their marriage, one where her parents, who no longer live in Sri Lanka, would come home for the celebration.

She thought nothing of it when he jokingly pulled her into the water at the beach on the outskirts of Colombo last August, and told her she could get changed into fresh dry clothes at a nearby hotel.

Continued: https://www.newsdeeply.com/womenandgirls/articles/2017/12/11/sri-lankan-women-too-scared-to-seek-legal-post-abortion-care