Nigeria – Unintended pregnancy, abortion in street-involved adolescents in Lagos, Osogbo high — Survey

by Sade Oguntola 
June 22, 2023

UNINTENDED pregnancy and induced abortion is a common experience among the sexually active street-involved adolescents, with a history of school attendance significantly reducing the likelihood of being pregnant, a study has revealed.

It added that those aged between 15 and 19 years who became pregnant are significantly less likely to abort.

Continued: https://tribuneonlineng.com/unintended-pregnancy-abortion-in-street-involved-adolescents-in-lagos-osogbo-high-survey/


Nigeria – Increasing Use Of Family Planning As Strategy To Lower Maternal Mortality

Jun 9, 2023

Increased use of family planning, according to studies, lowers the number of unintended pregnancies and, as a result, lowers the high rates of maternal mortality.

Sadly, many African countries, like Nigeria, still have low use and availability of contraceptives. According to the 2018 Global Family Planning Report, Nigeria had nearly 1.3 million unintended pregnancies in 2018, yet only 13.8 percent of Nigerian women utilised contraception at the same time.

Continued:  https://independent.ng/increasing-use-of-family-planning-as-strategy-to-lower-maternal-mortality/


141 million unintended pregnancies prevented in 2022 – report

The report said there is a steady rise in contraceptive use among women

by SELINA TEYIE
26 January 2023

In 2022, over 141 million unintended pregnancies were prevented in low and lower-middle-income countries due to the use of contraception.

This is according to an analysis by Family Planning 2030, which released a report on Wednesday looking at their measurement of family planning uptake in 2022.

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/realtime/2023-01-26-141-million-unintended-pregnancies-prevented-in-2022-report/


Nigeria – Unintended Pregnancies: Boosting Access To Utilisation Of Family Planning

By Chioma Umeha
On Dec 23, 2022

Boosting access to the utilisation of family planning as a means of minimizing unintended pregnancies has been proven in studies to be helpful in lowering the problem in nations with high maternal mortality rates.

Sadly, many African nations, like Nigeria, still have low utilisation and availability of contraceptives. According to the 2018 Global Family Planning Report, Nigeria had nearly 1.3 million unintended pregnancies in 2018, yet only 13.8 percent of Nigerian women utilised contraception at the same time.

Continued: https://independent.ng/unintended-pregnancies-boosting-access-to-utilisation-of-family-planning/


Doctor Clarifies Abortion Is Legal In Malaysia

O&G specialist Dr Jamiyah Hassan describes abortion laws in Malaysia as generally grey.

By Alifah Zainuddin
12 October 2022

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 – Contrary to popular belief, termination of pregnancy or abortion has been legal in Malaysia for nearly half a decade, which has kept the number of unsafe abortions “low” in the country, according to an obstetrician and gynaecologist.

Abortion in Malaysia is generally governed by Section 312 of the Penal Code, where the law provides for safe abortion to save a woman’s life and to preserve a woman’s physical and mental health, said Prof Dr Jamiyah Hassan from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) at a recent conference.

Continued: https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2022/10/12/doctor-clarifies-abortion-is-legal-in-malaysia/


Abortion pills are being widely used in Nigeria: Women and suppliers talk about their experiences

September 29, 2022
by Akanni Ibukun Akinyemi, Akinrinola Bankole, Melissa Stillman, Onikepe Owolabi and Temitope Erinfolami, The Conversation

Unintended pregnancy is common among women of reproductive age in Nigeria and a substantial number end in abortion. Annually between 2015 and 2019, almost three million pregnancies were unintended. Forty eight percent ended in abortion.

Many of these abortions are unsafe and some result in serious maternal morbidity or death. The main reason for this is that termination is only allowed legally in Nigeria if a woman's life is in danger. This drives women to obtain abortions clandestinely through unqualified providers using inappropriate methods.

Continued: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-09-abortion-pills-widely-nigeria-women.html


India – The case for action in the neglected crisis of unintended pregnancy

Posted on May 28, 2022
Dr. Farah K. Usmani

Remarkable gains have been made in sexual and reproductive health and rights championed by governments, civil society, and international organizations over the last several decades. But despite progress, hundreds of millions of women today still face economic, social, institutional,and other barriers that prevent them from making their own decisions about whether, when how often and with whom to become pregnant.

The basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of one’s children has been recognized in numerous international human rights agreements over the past five decades. During this same period, the world has seen a vast expansion in the availability of effective, modern contraceptives — one of the greatest public health achievements in recent history. However, even in 2022, women don’t have control on their fertility.

Continued: https://www.risingkashmir.com/The-case-for-action-in-the-neglected-crisis-of-unintended-pregnancy-107682


What American Mothers Really Need

May 2, 2022
By Margaret Renkl

NASHVILLE — I’ve been watching anti-abortion bills sweep the red states this season, and it occurs to me that the week of Mother’s Day might be a good time for a red-state mother like me to weigh in. I fervently support a woman’s right to choose, but I still spend a lot of time thinking about how Republican legislators could achieve their real goal without also trying to undo settled legal precedent.

First, a reminder: Women ended unwanted pregnancies long before Roe v. Wade made abortion safe and legal in the United States, and women will continue to do so even if Roe is overturned. During the 1950s and ’60s, before reliable birth control became widely available, between 200,000 and 1.2 million women illegally ended unwanted pregnancies in the United States each year.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/02/opinion/mothers-day-abortion-rights-republicans.html


The Elephant in the Womb: Unintended Pregnancies

22 APRIL 2022
Population Matters

This year’s State of the World Population (SWOP) report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) focuses on the worrying issue of unintended pregnancies. Still approximately half of all pregnancies today are unplanned and the number of affected women is increasing. Tackling this crisis is key to achieving a better future and should be an utmost priority. 

RUNNING TO SLIDE BACKWARDS?
Since 2019, the annual unintended pregnancy rate fell from 79 to 64 unintended pregnancies for every 1,000 women of child-bearing age (15 to 49 years) – in other words, roughly 6% of the world’s women experience an unintended pregnancy each year, down from 8% in 2019. However, the report points out that due to population growth, the absolute number of affected women has increased by as much as 13% during this time period. This inconvenient truth also applies to the number of girls and women affected by other injustices, such as child marriage and unmet contraceptive needs, alongside many other development indicators, as shown in Population Matters’ 2019 report on population and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Continued: https://populationmatters.org/news/2022/04/elephant-womb-unintended-pregnancies


Unintended pregnancy rates are highest in Africa: a look at the complex reasons

April 12, 2022
Anthony Idowu Ajayi

The United Nations Population Fund recently released the 2022 State of World Population report. It highlights that almost half of all pregnancies between 2015 and 2019 were unintended. That amounts to roughly 121 million unintended pregnancies each year.

Unintended pregnancy is defined as pregnancy among women who were not planning to have any (more) children. This includes pregnancies that occurred earlier than desired. The report also says over 60% of unintended pregnancies end in abortion. And 45% of all abortions performed globally are unsafe. About 7 million women a year are hospitalised as a result.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/unintended-pregnancy-rates-are-highest-in-africa-a-look-at-the-complex-reasons-180454