Cases of abortions in Nigeria are alarmingly high despite being highly restricted, a new study by Guttmacher Institute and the University of Ibadan says.
The study released in Abuja on Wednesday revealed that an approximately 1.25 million abortions occurred in the country in the year 2012, up from 610,000 in 1996.
The study attributed this increase in the abortion cases to the increase in the population size.
According to the study, the estimated abortion rate was 33 in 1000 women aged 15-49 in the year 2012.
The study went on to reveal that Nigeria has a very low level of contraceptive use, stressing that about one quarter of the 9.2 million pregnancies that occurred in the country in 2012 were unintended.
It also noted that most of these unplanned pregnancies ended up in abortions.
Director of International Research at the Guttmacher Institute, Dr. Akinrinola Bankole, stressed that abortion is legal in Nigeria only when performed to save a woman’s life. “Still abortions are common, and most are unsafe because they are done clandestinely, by unskilled providers or both,” he noted.
