•Says unsafe abortion preventable

A nonprofit group, Ipas Nigeria Health Foundation of has called on government and all stakeholders to ensure a more supportive environment that empowers women and girls in the country to make informed decisions about their lives and health.

The Country Director of Ipas Nigeria Health Foundation, Dr. Lucky Palmer, in a press statement to commemorate the International Women’s Day called for reform of outdated laws in the country to protect women’s access to safe abortion care and equip healthcare workers with adequate training to deliver safe and high-quality services.

He said: "In alignment with this year’s theme, ‘Give to Gain,’ it is critical that women and girls are given the opportunity to make safe abortion choices, because when we give access to safe care, we gain reduced maternal deaths.”

He noted that safe abortion, when provided by trained healthcare professionals or self-managed with prescribed medication, is extremely safe.

He lamented that due to persistent myths, restrictive laws, moral and religious stigma, and limited access to services, abortion remains unsafe for many women in Nigeria. Unsafe abortion contributes to at least 13% of maternal mortality nationally.

Palmer said evidence also shows that when abortion care is delivered safely, it is 14 times safer than carrying a pregnancy to term, yet unsafe abortion continues to be a silent killer, driven by stigma, shame, legal restrictions, and limited access to quality care.

“The pervasive incidence of rape and incest creates even more devastating outcomes for survivors, especially due to the stigma surrounding pregnancies resulting from rape.

“Research by Ipas Nigeria shows that 76% of women and girls aged 15–49 have experienced sexual violence, and 3 out of 25 survivors surveyed became pregnant as a result of rape. These women and girls are often forced into unsafe alternatives or required to carry unwanted, trauma inducing pregnancies.”

“Our law is over 150 years old, a colonial law. We have effectively handcuffed women’s ability to make better decisions by attaching stigma and shame to abortion care instead of empathy. This International Women’s Day, we must commit to giving women a safe environment to make informed choices by ensuring accurate information, providing safe abortion care and creating laws that protect abortion access”, he said.