Lagos — THE statistics are alarming, over 760,000 abortions yearly in the country resulting in over 140,000 hospitalisations.

Abortions has been identified as the major reason Nigeria records one of the highest cases of maternal mortality ratio of 800 deaths per 100,000 births yearly in the world.

These figures, alarming as they are, have been referred to as conservative estimates by researchers and institutions working in the country.

This is because cases of victims of sexual violence such as rape, incest, among others are hardly ever reported or brought to lime-light. Indeed most people who engage in abortion or fall victim of sexual violence would never want to divulge details of where and how it happened. Reason being that the society still abhors abortion even when it becomes very necessary (e.g. rape) and the Nigerian laws does not adequately provide for safe abortion just as there exists no law that exhaustively spells out punishment commensurate for perpetrators of sexual violence.

At a recent workshop for the media on Unwanted pregnancies and Unsafe abortion held at Ota, Ogun State, facts of case studies of complications resulting from unsafe abortion were shared among participants.

A typical case was that of a teenager, the second in a family of seven.

She was rushed into the hospital after developing complications from the termination of her four months old pregnancy. She had earlier terminated the pregnancy using dilation and curettage (D&C) at a chemist shop. During the procedure she had bled significantly.

At surgery, more than 700mls of pus was drained out of her abdomen region.

All her pelvic organs and intestines were bound down by adhesions and were not readily mobilisable.

By the 30th day after hospital admission, she developed renal failure. This case represents one among many cases of complications resulting from abortions that was unsafely done.

Unsafe abortion is said to contribute up to 30-50 per cent of deaths in Nigeria.

Campaign Against Unwanted Pregnancy (CAUP) Executive Director, DR. Boniface Oye-Adeniran defined abortion as the termination of a pregnancy before the age of viability. The age of viability in Nigeria is before 28 weeks gestation.

Abortion he said, may occur spontaneously (miscarriage) or it could be induced. And many cases of induced abortion are often usafely done.

Dr. Oye Adeniran while making reference to World Health Organisation (WHO) definitions, said a safe abortion refers to procedures performed by trained healthcare providers with proper equipment, correct technique and adequate sanitary standards.

Unsafe abortion on the other hand, is a procedure of terminating unwanted pregnancy either by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment lacking minimal standards or both.

A recent study by CAUP pointed out that a vast majority of women would have had at least one Un-safe abortion by the age of 49 years.

According to Dr. Oye-Adeniran, "These women would continue to die because the society is hypocritical, the laws are restrictive and low use of contraceptives and family planning services.

Dr. Oye-Adeniran identified absence of adequate sex education as well as lack of comprehensive reproductive healthcare service as some of the factors responsible for the high rate of abortion in the country.

Also speaking at the workshop, Prof. Isaac Adewole of Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan called for improved medical services, safe motherhood initiatives, adolescent reproductive services and family planning services in order to stem the tide of un-safe abortion in the country. He also emphasized the need for policy makers to review the abortion laws currently in usage.