Factors Responsible for Abortion Practices among Adolescents in Africa: Focus on Ghana

Ezek Martins U.

Department of Management Kampala International University Uganda

ABSTRACT

Termination of pregnancy for medical reasons is a complex decision, which may lead to long term complications, both for the woman and for the whole family. A summary of data from the Demographic Health Survey since 2005 shows that in most African countries, sexual activity before age 20 is more prevalent than marriages before that age, with a high adolescent fertility rate and its attendant consequences. It is estimated that about 1.8 million adolescent females give birth yearly, mainly in Low and Medium Income Countries. Additionally, 1 out of every 3 women in developing compared to 1 out of 5 women in developed countries would have given birth by the age of 18.  Of these births, about 95% take place in LMICs which are largely beset with poverty, lack of education and high rural populations. As a consequence of these, numerous, sometimes unintended pregnancies, about 3 million, mostly unsafe abortions among adolescents occur yearly, some with fatal and often times long-term complications. This paper therefore examined the religious and socio-economic factors responsible for abortion practices among young people in Ghana. It maintained that, adolescents suffer consequences of abortion, such as haemorrhage, severe anaemia, trauma, foreign body, sepsis, or mortality; hence, the need for alternatives to abortion through expanded and enhanced family planning services, and if unintended pregnancy has already occurred for a woman who qualifies for safe legal abortion, then safety should be guaranteed.

Keywords: Abortion, Adolescents, Ghana, Pregnancy, Factors

CITE AS: Ezek Martins U. (2024). Factors Responsible for Abortions Practices among Adolescents in Africa: Focus on Ghana. RESEARCH INVENTION JOURNAL OF CURRENT RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 3(1):8–13.