An estimated 4,2-million unsafe abortions are performed each year in Africa and 30 000 women die as a result, a seminar heard on Thursday.
”Tens of millions of women of reproduction age in Africa today will experience an unsafe abortion in their lifetime,” said Liz Maguire, president of Ipas — an international NGO that promotes women’s health.
She said the figure represented more than 40% of the worldwide total number of abortion-related deaths.
The consequences were ‘especially serious’ for young women and girls because 60% of women who have unsafe abortions were under 25, said Maguire, who was speaking at a seminar in Johannesburg to celebrate 10 years of safe abortions and to commemorate International Women’s Day.
Due to the introduction in 1996 of the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act in South Africa, the maternal mortality rate of unsafe abortions has dropped to 91% and complications to 50%, said Maguire.
She said, however, that some challenges still remained.
These included the implementation of the national strategic plan, ensuring that each province fully embraced the expectation for improving women’s access to abortions, the introduction of medical abortions, offering women more choices and focusing on community education and empowerment.
An Ipas board member, Professor Eddie Mhlanga, added that one of the major challenges still faced in South Africa was to make abortions more accessible to women in rural areas. — Sapa