Accesible family planning services reduce abortion

Mar 11, 2007

HUGH Moeketsi in his article titled, “Is abortion murder?” which was published in <i>The New Vision</i> of March 2 missed out a vital point. The majority of the women who go for abortion are not victims of rape.

By Christine Uwamahoro

HUGH Moeketsi in his article titled, “Is abortion murder?” which was published in The New Vision of March 2 missed out a vital point. The majority of the women who go for abortion are not victims of rape. When many women end up with unintended pregnancies, it is not because they were completely unaware that they are likely to conceive.

Most women who get involved in sexual relations within the reproductive age (15-49 years) know that they are likely to become pregnant. I therefore think that Legalising abortion should be one of the last strategies the Government should go for.

The Government should not shoot the beast by aiming at the tail. Instead, they should attack the beast aiming at the most critical parts. Legalising abortion is not the best way to solve the problem of unintended pregnancies.

The best strategy is for the Government to ensure that family planning services are available for every individual who is within the reproductive age group.

Since most women always know that they are likely to conceive every time they sleep with men, they should prepare ahead of time. If youth-friendly services in the area of family planning were available, the adolescents would easily access them and prevent the unwanted pregnancies.

According to the Reproductive Health Strategy of the Ministry of Health (2003), only 23 per cent of Ugandan within the reproductive age group use a method of contraception. These statistics are only for the married couples, which means the rate of use might be much lower considering that it is not only married people who procreate. Some 38 per cent of Ugandans have an unmet need of family planning services yet 40 per cent of all the pregnancies are unintended (Uganda Demographic Health Survey 2001).

So, instead of some political leaders and radio presenters advocating that people should have more children, let them be honest with the public and encourage them to give birth to the children they will be able to handle.

That can only be done by advocating government allocation of enough funds for family planning services. If a young girl is able to avoid a pregnancy, she will do all she can to prevent it. It’s unfortunate that many people have got so many myths and misconceptions attached to contraception due to the wrong information they have received.

The Government and the concerned stakeholders should endeavour to ensure that the public gets the right information about family planning. The health workers should take time to counsel their clients and give friendly services to the young people who walk into the clinics. Couples that do not know their HIV or STI status should be encouraged to use dual protection, that is, the condom that will both prevent pregnancy and infection.

The religious leaders cannot hide their heads in the sand and pretend that unintended pregnancies are non-existent in the congregations. It is important that every woman should feel honoured to conceive but not cursed just because they are pregnant. Children are a gift from God, every woman should feel that way when she is pregnant.

Just like John Cleland and others mentioned in their study in the Lancet Journal 2006 the Government needs to be fully aware that the links between fertility, population growth and poverty, the benefits of family planning for survival and health of children and mothers especially the ones that are HIV infected are fairly straightforward.

The writer is a student of Public Health Leadership,
Uganda Christian University

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});