Illegal abortions cause one in four pregnancy-related deaths

Illegal abortions accounted for more than one in four pregnancy-related deaths in Gabon in 2001, according to a Health Ministry survey which has just been released. Many of them were teenagers. “Abortion was the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in 2001,” said Elisabeth Makaya, head of the Ministry’s infant and maternal health department. The survey, released last week, showed back street abortions caused 28.8 percent of pregnancy-related deaths in 2001. They accounted for 110 of the 407 fatal complications that arose during registered pregnancies that year. Separate statistics indicate that 15 percent of women of child-bearing age in Gabon - between 15 and 49 -undergo illegal abortions. The figures mirror a stream of newspaper reports in recent years about foetuses found in rubbish bins, or dumped on back streets in poor neighbourhoods. Such reports illustrate the fact that young girls living at home in this Central African country of 1.3 million people will go to great lengths to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. A study of more than 14,000 pregnancies carried out in 2000 by the Gabonese Midwives Association showed that teenagers accounted for 27 percent of the total. This was largely due to early and unprotected sex between teenagers, the study said. It noted that 23.8 percent of girls aged between 15 and 19 had sexual relations for the first time at the age of 15. The figure was even higher for boys in the same age group at 48.1 percent. “Globally, teenage abortions are caused by ignorance and lack of information,” the study said. Similarly, lack of information means women are generally unaware that abortions can kill, gynaecologist Helene Ona Ondo told IRIN. “It’s deplorable that very few women or teenagers are aware of the physical risks they run when they abort,” she said. “You have to look out for complications even when curettage (removing the foetus with a sharp instrument) or aspiration are carried out by professional health workers, so imagine what can go wrong with unsafe methods.” In Africa, where most countries have restrictive abortion laws, more than four million unsafe abortions occur each year, according to UN surveys published in 2003. More than 40 percent of the world’s deaths due to unsafe abortion occur in Africa. Thousands of other women survive, but many are left with injuries and disabilities such as uterine perforation, chronic pelvic pain and secondary infertility, the surveys said. In Gabon, abortion on demand remains illegal. However, under a 2000 law, it is allowed if a doctor certifies that the life of the woman is at risk, or that the foetus is perceived as abnormal. Illegal abortionists face between one and 10 years in jail if caught.