Eastern Regional Facilitator for Comprehensive Abortion Care, Madam Berlinda Kpodo has called on Health Service Workers trained for Values Clarification and Attitude Transformation (VCAT) not to force people to terminate their pregnancies when they walk voluntary into the facility for safe Abortion.
According to her, Values clarification and attitude transformation (VCAT) aims to move participants toward support, acceptance and advocacy for comprehensive abortion and post abortion care and related sexual and reproductive health care and rights.
Speaking at Asamankese during VCAT Training for stakeholders in Safe Abortion from some health facilities in West Akyem, Madam Berlinda Kpodo called on Comprehensive Abortion Care Nurses not be forced by clients without the consent Agreement to terminate any pregnancy, adding, Women and girls in Ghana have broad legal access to abortion, but they face barriers when trying to access safe, legal services.
She noted that as a result, unsafe abortion persists as one of the country’s leading causes of maternal death.
Madam Berlinda Kpodo encouraged Participants to share sexual and reproductive health information with the community to introduce themselves to legal abortion providers and stressed on the need for Public Education with statistics on unsafe Abortion consequences.
Act 29, Criminal Offenses Act, 1960, (v) supplies or procures a poison, drug, an instrument or any other thing knowing that it is intended to be used or employed to cause abortion or miscarriage, commits a criminal offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years.
But the Provisional National Defence Council Law (PNDCL) 102 of 1985 which amended Act 29, Section 58 of the Criminal Code of 1960 makes abortion legally permissible if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or if the pregnancy is a threat to the health of the mother or the foetus.
Public Health Nurse at the West Akyem Municipal Health Directorate, Madam Elizabeth Mensah said the increase in abortion related cases is attributed to the use of herbal concoction but the Health Directorate with intensify public education to curb the menace.
The West Akyem Municipal Health Directorate in the Eastern Region has recorded 143 Abortion related cases from January to June 2023.
Out of the number, 9 per cent were Elective, 16% were Induced and 75% were Spontaneous Abortion,Contrarily, Abortion Cases for 2021 was 74 against 45 in 2022.
Source:Mybrytfmonline/Mensah Atakora
