Beyond decriminalisation: Why legal change alone won’t guarantee safe abortion in Nigeria

Women Empowering Women Initiative (WEWIN)
July 15, 2025

The conversation around abortion in Nigeria is slowly shifting. In Lagos State, the suspension of the Safe Termination of Pregnancy (STOP) guideline continues to highlight just how contentious and urgent the issue of safe abortion is. Across global platforms, there is growing advocacy for decriminalising abortion to reduce unsafe procedures and maternal deaths. These policy debates and calls for reform are essential, but they are only the beginning.

Decriminalising abortion or adopting progressive guidelines can remove the threat of prosecution. They can provide frameworks for hospitals to offer care without fear of sanctions. But laws on paper do not always translate to safety in practice. Without deliberate efforts to address stigma, health system readiness, community norms, and the broader socio-economic barriers that women face, legal change alone will fall short of ensuring that abortion is truly safe, accessible, and dignified.

Continued: https://businessday.ng/opinion/article/beyond-decriminalisation-why-legal-change-alone-wont-guarantee-safe-abortion-in-nigeria/

15.07.2025

News

abortion stigma

decriminalisation of abortion

Women Empowering Women Initiative

Silent Epidemic: Confronting unsafe abortion and reproductive health crisis facing Nigerian adolescents

By Elizabeth Osayande
July 13, 2025

Nigeria is facing a reproductive health crisis that remains largely invisible in national conversations, yet its toll is deadly and escalating. An estimated 610,000 unsafe abortions occur annually in Nigeria, according to recent national surveys. Of the roughly 20,000 women who die from abortion-related complications each year, nearly half are adolescents. These numbers, though staggering, only hint at the deeper systemic failures that expose Nigerian girls to life-threatening risks for seeking autonomy over their bodies.

At the intersection of public health research, demographic insight, and social justice is Dr. Bosede O. Adejugbe, a US-based Nigerian demographer whose work amplifies this hidden epidemic. Her scholarship brings rare visibility to the lived realities of young girls navigating fertility decisions within a web of restrictive abortion laws, entrenched gender norms, and poor access to adolescent-friendly healthcare services.

Continued: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/07/silent-epidemic-confronting-unsafe-abortion-and-reproductive-health-crisis-facing-nigerian-adolescents/

14.07.2025

Commentary

Abortion Practices Among Adolescent Girls in North-West Nigeria

Dr. Bosede O. Adejugbe

Nigeria – Experts seek legal backing for safe abortion, GBV response in Ogun

By : Azeez Olorunlomeru
8 Jul 2025

Experts from different divides have demanded increased awareness, legal backing, and improved access to reproductive health services, especially Safe Termination of Pregnancy (STOP), to tackle the alarming rates of gender-based violence, unsafe abortion, and maternal mortality.

The call was made in Abeokuta yesterday during a high-level roundtable meeting with policymakers on the possible legal framework of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in Ogun State.

Continued: https://guardian.ng/news/experts-seek-legal-backing-for-safe-abortion-gbv-response-in-ogun/#google_vignette

08.07.2025

maternal mortality rates

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Nigeria – Stakeholders seek stronger policies to ending unsafe abortions, GBV

3rd July 2025
By Taiwo Bankole

Stakeholders, including medical doctors, lawyers, gynaecologists and policymakers have demanded a more pragmatic approach including increased awareness, strong legal backing, and improved access to reproductive health services to tackle the menace of unsafe abortion among other gender-based violence.

The call was made in Abeokuta on Wednesday during a high-level round table meeting with policymakers and other stakeholders on the progress of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Ogun State.

Continued: https://punchng.com/stakeholders-seek-stronger-policies-to-ending-unsafe-abortions-gbv/

03.07.2025

News

Caroline Wambue

Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi

Safe termination of pregnancies should be intentional, collaborative — Stakeholders

Sade Oguntola
June 26, 2025

The consensus of stakeholders is that the government’s efforts to ensure safe termination of pregnancies in Nigeria should be collaborative and intentional to safeguard young people’s lives from the consequences of unsafe abortion.

The project director for Vision Spring Initiatives, Mrs Ngozi Nwosu-Juba, speaking at the opening of a 2-day summit in Oyo State on “Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Young Women in Nigeria”, said statistics show that young people are dying in their numbers and also facing challenges from unsafe abortion.

Continued: https://tribuneonlineng.com/safe-termination-of-pregnancies-should-be-intentional-collaborative-stakeholders/#google_vignette

27.06.2025

News

Ngozi Nwosu-Juba

Oluwaremilekun Atolagbe

safe abortion

Vision Spring Initiatives

Advancing Expansion Of Access To Safe Abortion In Nigeria

By Hameed Oyegbade
June 26, 2025

The current rate of unsafe abortion in Nigeria remains a source of concern to many and has necessitated the consistent call for expansion of access to safe abortion in the country.

In Nigeria, abortion is illegal while the only legal way to have an abortion in Nigeria is if having the child is going to put the mother's life in danger. In other words, abortion is illegal in Nigeria and carries a heavy jail sentence of up to 14 years imprisonment, unless it is performed to save the life of the pregnant woman.

Continued: https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/352923/advancing-expansion-of-access-to-safe-abortion-in-nigeria.html#google_vignette

26.06.2025

News

African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights

Reproductive Justice initiative Foundation

Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria

Closing Nigeria’s maternal mortality gap

by New National Star
June 23, 2025

The target looks good. By 2030, the Nigerian government hopes to reduce maternal mortality rate, MMR, to 196 per 100,000 live births, in line with the United Nations, UN, goal of 70 deaths per 100,000.

Five years to the date, however, available facts have shown that the country’s MMR is a worrisome development.

Continued: https://newnationalstar.com/closing-nigerias-maternal-mortality-gap/#google_vignette

23.06.2025

News

maternal mortality

reducing MMR

World Health Organisation

Nigeria – Expert urges community-based approach to prevent pregnancy-related deaths

20th June 2025
By Lara Adejoro

A maternal health equity specialist, Christianah Diyaolu, has called for the strengthening of care systems in underserved areas through community partnerships and culturally responsive approaches to prevent pregnancy-related deaths.

According to her, Black and Brown women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes.

Continued: https://punchng.com/expert-urges-community-based-approach-to-prevent-pregnancy-related-deaths/#google_vignette

20.06.2025

News

Christianah Diyaolu

maternal mortality

United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation Interagency Group

Nigeria: Medical Expert Dispels Myths About Family Planning Methods

Ayobami Agboola
June 16, 2025

A registered public health nurse, Mrs Roseline Akinlabi, has called for collective efforts to dispel myths and misconceptions about family planning methods.

Akinlabi, the Adolescent and Youth S and Sexual Reproductive Health Desk Officer, Osun Primary Healthcare Board made the call during a virtual engagement programme organised by the State Public Health media team with the support of a Non-governmental Organisation, The Challenge Initiative (TCI) in Osogbo.

Continued: https://newtelegraphng.com/medical-expert-dispels-myths-about-family-planning-methods/

16.06.2025

News

Osun Primary Healthcare Board

Roseline Akinlabi

The Challenge Initiative

Africa

Nigeria

Contraception

Nigeria – Why are women still whispering about their bodies?

Women Empowering Women Initiative (WEWIN)
June 11, 2025

In Nigeria today, conversations about women’s bodies are still conducted in hushed tones. From menstruation to contraception, and especially when it comes to pregnancy decisions, silence and shame often shape the narrative. Behind closed doors, women talk. However, their needs are buried under stigma in public, policy, and healthcare settings.

This silence is not just cultural; it is deeply political. It affects how women access care, how they are treated when they seek help, and whether they live or die when faced with reproductive health crises. For many, the stakes of whispering are not just personal; they’re fatal.

Continued: https://businessday.ng/opinion/article/why-are-women-still-whispering-about-their-bodies/

11.06.2025