Urge LASG to restore safe-abortion guidelines

Women’s health advocates have raised concerns over stigma and barriers to family planning services at Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in Lagos State.

They, therefore, urged the state government to improve access to reproductive healthcare and restore its suspended guidelines on safe termination of pregnancy for legal indications.

According to them, the guidelines, which outlined circumstances in which pregnancy termination may be managed within the existing legal framework, were suspended in July 2022 following public controversy.

The advocates said some women, particularly those from vulnerable backgrounds, faced discrimination when seeking care, while opposition to contraception and concerns over unsafe abortion further underscored the need for community sensitisation and better access to accurate reproductive health information.

The health advocates made the call on Wednesday during a Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) awareness walk organised by Ohotu Diamond Women Initiative (ODWI), with support from AmplifyChange, from Oniwaya Market to Dopemu Palace in Agege.

The exercise featured sensitisation in English, pidgin, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, focusing on family planning, contraception, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), HIV prevention and the dangers of unsafe abortion.

It also encouraged women to seek medical care without fear of discrimination.

ODWI’s Project Coordinator, Dr Margaret Onah, said the organisation had received complaints from women who felt stigmatised or inadequately attended to at PHCs because of their backgrounds or occupations.

She said that women reached by the organisation were sex workers, adding that reproductive health education needed to extend beyond brothels into the wider communities where they lived.

Onah, however, expressed concern over reports of unsafe abortion, saying the initiative aimed to provide accurate information and encourage women to seek appropriate medical care rather than attempt to terminate pregnancies themselves.

She identified opposition to family planning by some husbands as another barrier confronting women, stressing the importance of involving men in community sensitisation.

She added that ODWI had engaged the Lagos State Ministry of Health over complaints of stigma and the demand for payment at PHCs for family planning services.

According to her, the ministry subsequently directed the facilities not to charge for the services or stigmatise women seeking care.

The claim could not be independently verified at the time of filing this report.

Onah said the organisation also worked with the Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Nigeria to refer women requiring further medical attention.