Chisa Ugboaja, a consultant gynaecologist with MSI Reproductive Choices Nigeria, has decried the dangers caused by unsafe abortion and called for coordinated action to prevent avoidable deaths and complications.
Ms Ugboaja made the call on Tuesday in Abuja at the Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) Media and Storytelling Lab 2026.
Media Health and Rights Initiative of Nigeria (MHR) organised the activity in collaboration with MSI Reproductive Choices Nigeria.
She said that unsafe abortion could expose women to life-threatening complications, including severe bleeding, acute renal failure, damage to reproductive organs and loss of fertility.
The gynaecologist said the consequences could also include mental health problems, while some women die and others survive with severe complications.
According to Ms Ugboaja, unsafe abortion contributes to maternal mortality in Nigeria, estimating that it accounts for about 10 per cent of maternal deaths. She defined unsafe abortion as the termination of pregnancy by an unskilled person, using obsolete or unapproved methods or operating in an unsafe or inadequate environment.
“Some people die. Some people escape by the skin of their teeth. They are just what they call near-misses,” she said.
Ms Ugboaja said the impact extended beyond deaths recorded as maternal mortality, as women who survive end up with serious complications.
“That also is a catastrophe. So, the impact of unsafe abortion is huge in Nigeria, and we cannot just wave it off,” she said.
Ms Ugboaja said that addressing unsafe abortion required interventions at individual, community, health facility and government levels. The gynaecologist identified Nigeria’s National Guidelines for Safe Termination of Pregnancy as an important resource for reducing unsafe practices, urging healthcare providers to follow the provisions.
She said the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare developed the guidelines, with support from partners, and added that several states had also domesticated them.
Ms Ugboaja called for increased public awareness to address stigma and encourage women experiencing abortion-related complications to seek medical attention.
“The more we stigmatise people, the more they are isolated, the more they feel unable to seek help and fear grows,” she said.
She also called for adolescent-friendly reproductive health services, noting that young people with reproductive health concerns sometimes avoided healthcare facilities because of judgmental attitudes among providers.
Ms Ugboaja said that stigma could prevent women and adolescents from seeking appropriate care, thereby worsening the consequences of unsafe abortion.
(NAN)
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