Do Women have Access to Abortion in Nigeria?

Nigeria is the most populated country in Nigeria, with this large population comes a lot of different cultures and religions. Due to this diversity, there are a lot of different opinions, values and ideologies affect the different laws and policies govern the country. Because of the deeply conservative views of most Nigerians some controversial topics are either not discussed or ignored.

Among these controversial topics is the topic of abortion. Abortion is defined as the expulsion from the womb of a foetus or embryo before it is fully developed, with loss of the foetus; either naturally as a spontaneous abortion (now usually called miscarriage), or deliberately as an induced abortion. In this post, abortion is used to refer to induced abortion.

I will start by explaining the stance of the law on abortion in Nigeria. Nigeria is divided broadly into the Northern and Southern states. Abortion is governed by different laws in these different parts, in the Nothern states it is guided by Penal law and in the Southern states it is guided by the Criminal law.

According to Wikipedia, "The abortion laws of the Criminal Code are expressed within sections 228, 229, and 230. Section 228 states that any doctor providing a miscarriage to a woman is guilty of a felony and up to 14 years of imprisonment. Section 229 states that any woman obtaining a miscarriage is guilty of a felony and may be sentenced to imprisonment for up to 7 years. Section 230 states that anyone supplying anything intended for a woman's miscarriage is also guilty of a felony and may be sentenced to up to 3 years of imprisonment". This is the stance of the law in the South.

Then in the North, according to Wikipedia, "...with abortion laws contained in sections 232, 233, and 234. The sections of the Penal Code parallel the Criminal Code, besides the exception for abortion with the purpose of saving the life of the mother. The Penal Code's punishments include imprisonment, fine, or both."

It is only in the Penal law that there is an exception for if the pregnancy was a threat to the life of the mother, such an exception is not present in the Criminal law although there had been some legal cases that proved otherwise. And these penalties apply whether or not the abortion was successful.

Now, we will talk about the effect of these practices on the Nigerian women. Abortion accounts for the 40% of maternal deaths in Nigeria, making it the second leading cause of maternal mortality in Nigeria. Religious and cultural factors are major reasons behind the failure to address certain abortion issues.

Statistically, 465,000 unsafe abortions are done in Nigeria yearly according to Guttmacher Institute and according to the Society of Gynecologists and Obstetricians of Nigeria (SOGON) and Nigeria's Ministry of Health about 20,000bwomen engage in abortion yearly. And among these, only 40% of these abortions by professionals with good health facilities the remaining percentage is carried out by non-professionals.

This statistic proves that despite the lack of access to proper abortion practices, women are still undergoing abortions. This results in high mortality rate in pregnant women. One target population affected is the adolescence population. Due to the deeply religious and cultural views of Nigerians teenage pregnancy is deeply frowned upon. These young girls when they get pregnant by any means (rape included) were greatly stigmatized. Desperate to get themselves out this situation they turn to abortion to rid them of the babies they cannot afford to have. Due to the restriction on abortion, most of these young girls turn to crude methods to remove the babies. These crude methods include abuse of medication, taking of obnoxious substances, inserting of harmful objects into the uterus etc. Effects of these crude methods include death of mother and/or child, excessive bleeding, damage of uterus, loss of ability to have more children.

Another population affected are married women or financially stable women who do not want to have children. The Nigerian society expects childbearing should be a woman's priority. This is irrespective of the woman's ambitions, finances or readiness to have a child. It is expected that said woman should carry the conceived child to full term whether or not she was prepared for the child. Such women would try to secretly get an abortion to hide from the public eye.

Another factor is the cost of medical care in the country. Due to this, most women try to find cheaper alternatives. Most of the time, they rely on traditional or crude methods which often bring about undesired results.

Another angle to prove the lack of control Nigerian women have over laws that affect them directly is in the example of Forced Abortion by Nigerian Army. In 2022, Reuters reported that the Nigerian military conducted a mass-abortion program at least since 2013 in Northeastern Nigeria, where women separated from Islamic insurgents who had impregnated them. Over 10,000 pregnancies have been terminated without the mothers' knowledge or consent. The women were forcibly administered abortion-inducing injections and pills without being told what the medications were for, and after the abortion was completed they were told not to tell anyone about it. Some women died in these forced abortions, despite the procedures being carried out by medical professionals. Some of the women stated they would not have chosen to have an abortion if given a choice. Forced abortions were illegal under both civilian and military laws in Nigeria.

Different bodies have tried to fight for the amendment of the abortion laws. Bodies like SOGON, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to mention a few, have tried to amend this law in order to reduce maternal mortality. Though they have been faced with resistance which insists that unwanted pregnancies can be stopped by teaching girls values and preventing unprotected sex.

In conclusion, to this day it only a woman whose life is endangered can perform abortion. I hope these changes and women are given full rights to influence decisions that affect them directly. I hope education of the future population will change this view on abortion and that women are heard.