Unsafe abortion and unprotected sex activities affecting health of Adolescents

April 29, 2024
A GNA Feature by Fatima Anafu-Astanga

Bolatanga – Agnes Malebna (Not real name) was rushed in by her family to the Tinguri CHPS Out Patients Department (OPD) in the West Mamprusi Municipality in the North East Region already emaciated, dehydrated and anaemic having lost so much blood.

The examination conducted by the medical team making efforts to keep her alive indicated it was an attempt to abort, which may have started at home by the 16-year-old, SHS form one student who felt she was still in school and too young to start making babies.

Continued: https://gna.org.gh/2024/04/unsafe-abortion-and-unprotected-sex-activities-affecting-health-of-adolescents/

29.04.2024

News

Columbia Mailman School

Ghana Democratic Health

Issahaku Rayal

Oxfam Ghana

Participatory Action

Power to Choose project

sexual and reproductive rights and health

Ghana – Sunyani Adolescent Parliament advocates access to contraceptives to promote safe sex

April 15, 2024
By Dennis Peprah, GNA

Sunyani, April 15, GNA – The Sunyani Municipal Adolescent Parliament has called on the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to support young people to easily access condoms and contraceptives to promote safe sex.

The also called for intensified sex education, proper use of contraceptives, and access to family planning services.

Continued: https://gna.org.gh/2024/04/sunyani-adolescent-parliament-advocates-access-to-contraceptives-to-promote-safe-sex/

15.04.2024

News

Daniel Sarkodie Frimpong

family planning services

Ghana Health Service

Raphael Godlove Ahenu

Sunyani Municipal Adolescent Parliament

Abortions are legal in much of Africa. But few women may be aware, and providers don’t advertise it

By Maria Cheng And Misper Apawu, The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 2, 2024

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — When Efua, a 25-year-old fashion designer and single mother in Ghana, became pregnant last year, she sought an abortion at a health clinic but worried the procedure might be illegal. Health workers assured her abortions were lawful under certain conditions in the West African country, but Efua said she was still nervous.

“I had lots of questions, just to be sure I would be safe,” Efua told the Associated Press, on condition that only her middle name be used, for fear of reprisals from the growing anti-abortion movement in her country.

Continued: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/africa/abortions-are-legal-in-much-of-africa-but-few-women-may-be-aware-and-providers/article_24b7ad8d-aa20-5134-aa5f-a381fc7ea56c.html

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/

16.01.2024

News

Assin Fosu Magistrate Court

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

13.01.2024

Criminal and Other Offences Act 29

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

05.12.2023

News

African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights

Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah

Ipas

maternal mortality

Ole von Uexkull

Right Livelihood Award

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/

28.09.2023

Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah

Ipas

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

20.05.2023