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Abortion, Maternal Mortality and the Law in Uganda: Mini-Review

Primary Health Care: Open Access

ISSN - 2167-1079

Short Communication - (2020) Volume 10, Issue 3

Abortion, Maternal Mortality and the Law in Uganda: Mini-Review

Julius Nteziyaremye*
 
*Correspondence: Julius Nteziyaremye, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Busitema University, Uganda, Tel: +256706614213, Email:

Author info »

Abstract

Abortion in Uganda [1] like in other African countries such as Nigeria [2] is legal only when performed to save a woman’s life. Therefore Uganda’s law does not mean that abortion is legal but is rather restrictive [1, 3]. Every woman has the recognized human right to decide freely and responsibly without coercion and violence the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health [4]. Access to legal and safe abortion, as a tenet of safe motherhood is critical for the realization of these rights [5]. Uganda has one of the high total fertility rate (TFR) of 5.4 , and 38 percent of women age 15-49 do not want any more children or are sterilized while Uganda’s Contraceptive prevalence rate is only 39%, with the teenagers and the least privileged of the society less likely to access family planning services [6]. Worth noting too, is that despite the progress in alleviating Uganda’s maternal mortality ratio from 524 deaths to 336 deaths per 100,000 live births for the 7-year period preceding the 2001 and 2016 Uganda demographic health survey (UDHS) respectively [6], this falls short of the Sustainable development Goal 3.1 target of less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030 [7, 8].

Moreover more than half of pregnancies in Uganda are unintended and nearly a third of this end up in abortion [9], with the poor and rural women, whose access to skilled services providers is constrained by infrastructural and financial limitations more often than not, undergoing unsafe abortions [10]. Unsafe abortion and its complications account for 5% of maternal deaths in Uganda [11]. Worse still, treating complications resulting from unsafe abortion poses significant costs to the Ugandan health care system. On average, post abortion care costs about US$130 per patient culminating into total annual costs of nearly US$14 million [9]. This is a huge sum given that Uganda’s Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita (United Sates Dollar) is only 912 [12]. Studies elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa show similar trends. Studies in Nigeria indicated that there were approximately 33 abortions per 1000 women aged 15–49 in 2012 [13] compared to 25 abortions per 1000 women aged 15–44 in 1996 per 1000 women [14]. These two studies convey a clear message; women’s use of abortion as a means of fertility control has increased in intervening years. In a study by Suzanne et al, found that unsafe abortion were mostly suffered by the teenagers and the least advantaged in the society , were most affected by unsafe abortion [15].

A study by Center for Health, Human Rights & Development (CEHURD) found that the unclear abortion laws cause distress to both abortion seekers and health care workers and continue to lead to morbidity and mortality [16]. Moreover there is evidence that liberalized policies on abortion curtail maternal death [17, 18].

Keywords

Abortion . Law . Uganda

Conclusion

It is imperative that the abortion laws be revised to provide legislation that clearly reflects the changing times of the Ugandan society , in addition to improving other aspects of sexual and reproductive health such contraceptive accessibility

References

  1. Uganda Go. The Penal Code Act (Cap. 120), as amended through the Penal Code (Amendment) Act, 2007 (Act No. 8 of 2007), Sections 141-143, 212 and 224. 2007.
  2. Uganda Ro. Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (1995), Article 22(2). 1995.
  3. Fund UNP. International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). 1994 5 September 1994 - 13 September 1994.
  4. Uganda Bureau of Statistics Kampala UTDPIIR, Maryland, USA. Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2016 :Key Indicators Report. 2017 March
  5. World Health Organization UNCsF, United Nations Population Fund, World Bank, United Nations Population Division. Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015. . http://wwwwhoint/reproductivehealth/. 2015 12 November
  6. United Nations GA, Seventieth session. Agenda items 15 and 116: Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015. 2015 21 October
  7. INSTITUTE G. Unintended Pregnancy and Abortion in Uganda. 2013;Series 2013(2).
  8. Gabriel Jagwe-Wadda AMMaVW. Abortion Morbidity in Uganda: Evidence from Two Communities. Guttmacher Institute. 2006.
  9. Health. RoUMo. The Annual Health Sector Performance Report 2018/2019. Kampala: . 2019.
  10. Akinrinola Bankole IFA, Rubina Hussain, Olutosin Awolude, Susheela Singh and Joshua O. Akinyemi. The Incidence of Abortion in Nigeria. International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 2015 December;41(4):170-81.
  11. Stanley K. Henshaw SS, Boniface A. Oye-Adeniran, Isaac F. Adewole, Ngozi Iwere and Yvette P. Cuca. The Incidence of Induced Abortion in Nigeria. International Family Planning Perspectives. 1998 Dec;24(4):156-64.
  12. Suzanne O Bell EO, Funmilola OlaOlorun,Mridula Shankar,Caroline Moreau. Inequities in the incidence and safety of abortion in Nigeria. BMJ Global Health. 2020;5.
  13. Center for Health HRDC. FACING UGANDA'S LAW ON ABORTION :Experiences from Women & Service Providers. 2016 July.
  14. Su Mon Latt AMAK. Abortion laws reform may reduce maternal mortality: an ecological study in 162 countries. BMC Women's Health. 2019;19(1).
  15. Ratnam KSSS. The influence of abortion legislation on maternal mortality. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. 2000 10 January.

Author Info

Julius Nteziyaremye*
 
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Busitema University, Uganda
 

Citation: Julius Nteziyaremye. "Abortion, Maternal Mortality and the Law in Uganda: Mini-Review ". Prim Health Care, 2020,10(3), 001.

Received: 26-Jul-2020 Published: 05-Aug-2020

Copyright: 2020 Julius N. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.