Abortion laws in Nigeria
JO Imaralu
Unwanted pregnancy
• An unwanted pregnancy is a pregnancy that a woman or girl
decides, of her own free will, is undesired.
• An unwanted pregnancy is one which puts in jeopardy, the
interest of the woman, her partner of that of existing
children.
• Almost 80 million unwanted or unplanned pregnancies
occur each year. Over half of this i.e. 46 million result in
abortion, 20 million of which are unsafe.
Reasons for not wanting pregnancy
– Personal reasons
– Health considerations (such as HIV)
– Socioeconomic concerns
– Cultural reasons
– Relationship problems
– Desire to stop childbearing/space births
Causes of unwanted/unplanned pregnancy
• Non-use of available contraceptives, due to
– Lack of information, limited access to services, financial constraints,
personal beliefs, family objections, and/or health concerns
• Misinformation about reproduction
– Adolescents are susceptible to unwanted pregnancy and the risks
of early and unprotected sexual activity because they lack
information and services
• Sexual coercion, abuse, or rape
– 20% to 50% of all women report having experienced sexual
violence
• Contraceptive failure
– Leads to an estimated 8-30 million pregnancies each year
Consequences of unwanted pregnancy
• Unwanted pregnancy has significant consequences
for women and their families, including:
– Unwanted and early marriage
– Reduced opportunities for education or employment
– Social stigma for unmarried women/girls
– Additional strain on family resources for food,
education, and health care
– Unsafe abortion, which may result in long-term
illness, emotional distress, and DEATH
Abortion
• The expulsion or extraction of the products of
conception weighing 500g or less
• The expulsion or extraction of the products of
conception before the age of viability
• Abortion can be spontaneous or induced
Abortion - Induced
• The termination of pregnancy by a delibrate
intervention, is an extremely safe medical
procedure when carried out by qualified
personnel according to health policy
guidelines.”
Abortion - Unsafe
• Unsafe abortion is defined as the termination of an
unwanted (unintended) pregnancy by persons
lacking in minimum skils or in environments lacking
in minimum medical standards or both.
• Unsafe abortion is the termination of pregnancy
carried out by someone without the skills or
training to perform the procedure safely, or in a
place that does not meet minimal medical
standards, or both
Complications of unsafe abortion
Abortion law in Nigeria
Among the most restrictive in the world
• Abortion is allowed ONLY to save the woman’s life
• Providing an abortion or seeking one risks up to 7
years in jail
Are there any other reasons why
abortion should be allowed?
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• ?
Are there any other reasons why
abortion should be allowed?
• Terrorism
• Violent crimes
• Wars and unrest
• Incest
• Contraceptive failure
THE LAW AS IT AFFECTS ABORTION
INTRODUCTION: There is no body of Law in Nigeria as abortion law
There are however portion of the criminal and penal codes that relates to miscarriage .
Miscarriage: A non-medical term refers to non-willful discontinuation or pregnancy.
CRIMINAL CODE
Section 228:
• Any person who, with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman, whether she is or not with child,
unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing or uses force of any
kind or uses any other means whatever, or permits any such thing or means to be administered or used
to her guilty of a felony to imprisonment for seven years.
Section 229:
• Any woman who with intent to procure her own miscarriage , whether she is or not with child,
unlawfully administers to herself any poison or other noxious thing or uses force of any kind or uses any
other means whatever, or permits any such thing or means to be administered or used to her guilty of a
felony to imprisonment for seven years.
Section 230:
• Any person who unlawfully supplies to or procures for anything whatever, knowing that it is intended to
be lawfully used to procure the miscarriage of a woman, whether she is or not with child , is guilty of a
felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years.
Section 297:
• A person is not criminally responsible for performing in good faith and with reasonable care and skill a
surgical operation upon for this benefit, or upon an unborn child for the preservation of the mother’s
life, if the performance of the operation is reasonable, having regard to patient’s state at the and all the
circumstances of the case.
THE LAW AS IT AFFECTS ABORTION PENAL CODE
The provision of the penal code on abortion are governed by the section 232,233 and 234 as annotated by S.S Richardson
(1963). These sections are also reproduced here.
Section 232:
Causing Miscarriage:
• Whoever voluntarily causes a woman with child to miscarry shall, if such a miscarriage be not caused in good faith for
the purpose of saving the life of the woman, be punished with imprisonment for term which may extend to fourteen
years or with fine or with both
Explanation- A woman, who causes herself to miscarry is within the meaning of this section.
Section233:
Death caused by act done with intent to cause miscarriage:
• Whoever intent to cause the miscarriage of a woman whether with child or not does any act which causes the death of
such a woman, shall be punished.
a) With imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine with both; and
b) If the offender knew that the woman was with child, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may
extend to five years or with fine or with both.
Section 234:
Causing miscarriage Unintentionally:
• Whoever used force to any woman and thereby unintentional causes her to miscarry, shall be punished.
a) With imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine with both; and
b) If the offender knew that the woman was with child, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may
extend to five years or with fine or with both.
Attempts to revise/modify abortion laws and
regulations in Nigeria
• NMA
– The first attempt in, at an AGM in 1972
– Fizzled out due to poor support/commitment
• NPC 1975
– Proposed access to abortion for women. Reason : to
improve welfare of women. Supported by NMA &
SOGON.
– Issue was revisited by Minister of health in 1976, who
hinted on considerations for a decree to reform law on
abortion
– This generated a lot of controversy
Attempts to revise/modify abortion laws and
regulations in Nigeria
• SOGON, 1981
– initiated a bill on termination of pregnancy. The bill was tabled in
the House of Representatives
– Bill would permit abortion;
• If 2 physicians certify that continuation of the pregnancy
would involve risk to mother or cause physical or mental
injury to her or existing children than if pregnancy was not
terminated.
• Substantial risk that the child if born would suffer serious
physical and mental handicap
– bill was strongly opposed by religious leaders and National
Council of Women Societies, reason: potential for promiscuity
– The speaker of the HO Reps, received >1000 petitions against the
bill, but none in favour.
Nigerian data- on Unsafe abortion
Studies carried out by the Campaign Against Unwanted Pregnancy (CAUP) and
the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) showed that:
• At least 610,000 pregnancy terminations occur in Nigeria yearly.
• 60% are performed by non-Physician provider.
• 60.1% of abortion seekers are young persons (15-24 years)
• 32.6% of abortion seekers are students.
• 63.2% of abortion seekers were never married.
• 58% of abortion seeker have had at least one previous abortion.
• Dilation and Curettage (D&C) was the most common method used to terminate
pregnancy (59.7%)
• The commonest reasons given for pregnancy termination were:- still in school
(29.5%); Unmarried (19.3%); No need for more children and not yet ready for
another child(19.0%).
• Contraception knowledge at the community was 91.3% while ever use rate for
contraceptive method was 36.0%.
• The current use rate was 23.4% even among educated urban women.
Revision (contd)
• Campaign Against Unwanted Pregnancy
(CAUP)
– between 1991 and 1992,
– Organized a law reform meeting
– Prepared a draft liberalization law, submitted to the
minister of Health
– minister made a public statement that the idea was
being deferred until the size of the problem was
known and the proposal acceptable to many more
people.
Save a life today and a generation
tomorrow;
Do all you can to
prevent unsafe abortion.
