A Nigerian doctor Obinna Aniagboso, has said legalising
abortion would help reduce unwanted pregnancies and risks associated with
unsafe abortions.
Aniagboso, an Obstetrics and Gynaecology expert at the
Chukwuemeka Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Amaku said legalising
abortion would drastically reduce mortality, morbidity and infertility amongst
women.
According to him, while awareness about family planning is
about 80 per cent, its acceptance among the people is still as low as 20 per
cent.
The gynaecologist blamed the poor embrace of contraceptives,
which he said was the most effective planning method, on religious belief
systems, ignorance and fear of side effects.
He said that withdrawal method and other natural methods
used by many people often failed and were contributing immensely to unwanted
pregnancies, illegal abortion and population surge.
“The use of contraceptives is very unpopular; only a few
educated women do family planning, and funnily, lots of husbands advise their
wives against it.
“We advocate the use of contraceptive as the most reliable
method of spacing families and avoiding unplanned pregnancies.
“Some couples use withdrawal and natural methods that
involve avoiding intercourse during the wife’s fertile period, but these
methods are prone to mistakes,’’ he said.
Aniagboso told NAN that the issue of unwanted pregnancies
had increased the demand for abortion by the sexually active female population.
According to him, stringent abortion law in Nigeria has
denied these people expert services and left them at the mercy of quacks with
its attendant dangers that include post-abortion sepsis, which could eventually
cause infertility.
The medical practitioner said that in spite of the legal
limitation and societal disapproval for abortion in Nigeria, people still
sought and accessed the services.
He, therefore, advocated that the practice (abortion) be
liberalised to help meet the prevailing social health challenges in the
country.
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