The National Council for Women Societies (NCWS), on Thursday, called on the Federal Government to improve access to safe abortion by removing legal restrictions and ensure safe services.
Mrs Gloria Shoda, President of NCWS made this call at a one day sensitisation workshop for women on ‘Unsafe Abortion’ organised in collaboration with IPAS as part of activities to mark the 2018 International Women’s Day in Abuja.
Shoda said that where enabling laws are available, deaths and disabilities from abortion are greatly reduced.
She said most times services are expensive and facilities are often poorly equipped in terms of manpower and materials necessary to handle abortion emergencies.
Shoda attributed the failure to reduced the high rate of death from unsafe abortion in Nigeria to lack of access to safe abortion.
She said that there have been an increasing number of abortion cases throughout the world.
The president said this scenario has been fuelled by social and economy vices, adding that unsafe abortion accounts for over 70,000 deaths annually worldwide, Nigeria inclusive.
She urged women to embrace the use of contraceptives to reduce the incidences of unwanted pregnancies, which could lead to unsafe abortion.
“We also encourage our young girls to abstain from sex until marriage,” she said.
Earlier, the Country Director of Ipas, Hauwa Shekarau, while presenting a paper on Overview of Women’s Reproductive Health and Right: Focus on Unsafe Abortion, called on the government to make improve access to quality contraceptive service a priority.
She said that attention should be given to the rural areas, adding that the government should also ensure that safe abortion was accessible to all women.
Shekarau said this also called for broad range of providers able to perform abortions and integrating safe abortion and post abortion care into the public health care system at all levels.
According to her, as we press for progress for the Nigerian women, we must also remember to press for the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill currently before the National Assembly.
“The quest to protect the rights of women is impeded by the lack of adequate legislative framework,” she said.
She said the bill was proposed legal framework to address specifically the age long discrimination against women that restricts women from attaining their potentials.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the day was mark with a walk to sensitise women and young girls on unsafe abortion.