Despite legal restrictions, unsafe abortion is common in Senegal and thousands of women are injured
Despite legal restrictions, unsafe abortion is common in Senegal and thousands of women are injured
First-Ever National Study of Abortion in Senegal
Provides Important New Data
In the first national study of abortion incidence in Senegal, researchers found that clandestine abortions —almost all of them unsafe—pose a serious threat to the health of Senegalese women. The study, which was conducted by the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute and Senegal’s Centre de Recherche pour le Développement Humain, found that an estimated 51,500 induced abortions were performed in Senegal in 2012, a rate of 17 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age. More than half of those abortions resulted in complications requiring medical treatment, for which many women did not receive care.
The researchers, who conducted a survey of health facilities and another of health professionals, found that more than half of all women who have abortions–55%–experience complications requiring medical attention. However, 42% of women who experience complications do not receive the care they need. Poor women bear the greatest burden—they are far more likely than wealthier women to experience complications, but much less likely to receive medical treatment.
“Clandestine abortion in Senegal is taking a serious toll on Senegalese women, especially among the poorest and least advantaged women,” said Gilda Sedgh, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute and the study’s lead author. “Most abortions are the result of unintended pregnancies. Meeting the need for modern contraceptives would allow Senegalese women to have greater control over when they become pregnant, and help lower the likelihood that women will resort to unsafe abortions.”
The abortion rate in Senegal is lower than the rate in Africa as a whole (29 per 1,000 in 2008) and comparable to that in the United States (17 per 1,000 in 2011) and many European countries. However, complications related to abortion are quite rare in Europe and the United States, where the procedure is broadly legal and performed under proper medical conditions.
More from Guttmacher:
http://eepurl.com/bjJ76f
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The same denial of women's health and reproductive choices are in play here. With the same results -- abortions continue but without being medically safe. Anti-choicers are not 'pro-life,' they're anti-woman, anti-health, anti-independence.
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