CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
In Africa, pregnancy termination, often known as induced abortion, is a major public health concern [1]. It is described as a pregnancy that is terminated through intervention voluntarily. Despite the fact that abortion services in Africa are severely limited, with only four of Africa’s 54 countries having reasonably liberal abortion legislation [1], Between 2010 and 2014, 75.6 percent of abortions performed in Africa (95 percent confidence interval (CI): 66.4 to 81.4 percent) were deemed unsafe (performed by untrained practitioners or using non-recommended techniques) [2]. Abortion that is not safe has serious health consequences, including infections and death [2]. An unsafe abortion, according to the World Health Organization (1996), is one that is performed by someone who lacks the necessary expertise or in an environment that does not satisfy safety standards.
Notably, in Sub-Saharan Africa, women of reproductive age account for 57 percent of abortions [3], and unsafe abortion is the leading cause of maternal death in this age group [4,5, 6,7]. Abortions (especially unsafe abortions) can also damage women’s reproductive health and result in serious, and often fatal, complications. Furthermore, because of the serious health consequences that commonly follow unsafe abortions, they impose a tremendous cost on women and society.
In Nigeria, the problem is exacerbated by societal and religious beliefs that regard abortion as a kind of murder, with serious implications for those who do it [8,9]. As a result of these circumstances, women seek out clandestine abortion services from untrained private physicians who perform operations in dangerous settings and employ harmful intrusive techniques. In 2012, induced abortion was estimated to be 33 per 1000 women of reproductive age in Nigeria, despite the country’s harsh abortion laws. A recent analysis of Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data from 2011 to 2018 found that 3.8 percent of married women have ever aborted a pregnancy. While much research has been conducted on women’s knowledge, attitudes, practices, and prevalence of pregnancy termination in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Nigeria [3, 9, 12, 14], fewer studies have examined the causes and implications of abortion among reproductive-aged women in Nigeria. As a result, this study tends to fill in the gap.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Abortion is a relatively recent phrase. It is the word used to denote the act of termination or destruction of a pregnancy. Abortion is defined as the act of terminating the development of a child within a woman, most commonly through medical procedure [11]. According to Charl (12), abortion is one of the decade’s most flammable issues, sparking heated debates in political, social, medical, and religious circles all around the world. This is due to the consequences that reproductive-aged women face when they engage in abortion, particularly unsafe abortion.
As a result, unsafe abortion is a public health concern due to its devastating reproductive health consequences and impact on maternal morbidity and mortality.
Taking on this problem will go a long way toward achieving one of the Millennium Development Goals, which is to reduce maternal mortality by two-thirds by 2015 [14]. As a result, unsafe abortions may harm women’s reproductive health and result in serious, sometimes fatal consequences [18]. Furthermore, women and society pay a huge price for unsafe abortions because of the devastating health consequences that frequently occur.
Almost half of Nigerian women aged 15–49 years who had an unwanted pregnancy attempted and were successful in getting an abortion in the previous decade. [5,7] According to reports, the fear of societal vengeance as a result of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy or childbirth contributes significantly to making a pregnancy unwanted and maybe aborted.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The overarching goal of this research is to investigate the causes and consequences of abortion in women of reproductive age. As a result, the research will be focused on the following precise goals:
Determine the elements that cause and contribute to women’s abortion participation.
Determine whether abortion leads to complications in reproductive health.
Determine whether abortion has any negative impacts on women.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following questions will lead the research:
What are the elements that lead to and encourage women to have abortions?
Is abortion harmful to one’s reproductive health?
What are the potential consequences of abortion on women?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will also benefit society because the findings will reveal the dangers of abortion and the impact of abortion on sexual practices among reproductive-aged women (15-49), encouraging parents and guardians to take actions and make decisions that will better educate their children about abortion and its risks.
It will also be used as a literature review by future scholars. This means that other students interested in conducting research in this area will be able to use this study as available literature that can be critically reviewed. Invariably, the study’s findings add significantly to the body of academic knowledge about the causes and consequences of abortion among women of reproductive age.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This research is designed to look at the causes and effects of abortion in women of reproductive age. However, the research will look at the variables that lead to and encourage women to have abortions, as well as determine whether abortion causes reproductive health complications and the long-term impacts of abortion on women.
Female undergraduates at the University of Uyo in Akwa Ibom State would be the respondents for this study.
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The researcher ran into some minor roadblocks while conducting the research, as with any human endeavor. Insufficient funds hamper the researcher’s efficiency in locating relevant materials, literature, or information, as well as in the data collection process, which is why the researcher chose a small sample size. Furthermore, the researcher was working on this study while also doing other academic work. As a result, the time spent on research will be cut in half.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Mortality is defined as a large-scale loss of life.
Abortion is the termination of a woman’s pregnancy before it reaches full term.
Human sexual activity, also known as human sexual practice or human sexual behavior, refers to how people experience and express their sexuality. For a number of reasons, people engage in a variety of sexual actions, ranging from activities performed alone to acts performed with another person in varied patterns of frequency.
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