PROFESSOR FRED T. Sai, a former presidential advisor on population issues, reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS, has called for the enactment of legislation to legalise abortion.
The family health specialist noted that in a country where there is restrictive abortion legislation or no law to legalise the process, women resort to unsafe abortion which often leads to high rates of maternal mortality.
According to him, over 15 percent of maternal deaths in Africa were through unsafe abortion which he observed, have devastating consequences for families.
Addressing the Sixth Annual Research Conference on Population, Reproductive Health and Economic Development in Accra, Prof. Sai said if legalised, abortion could also help in family planning.
The four-day conference was organized by the University of Ghana in collaboration with the Population and Poverty Research Network (PopPov), a group of academic researchers and funders from around the globe interested in how population dynamics affect economic outcomes and population researchers, with an emphasis on empirical research about Africa.
PopPov investigates how population policies could influence poverty reduction at the household level and economic growth at the country and state level.
The researchers at the conference were expected to identify gaps in evidence and methods that inhibit development of sound policies on population, family planning, reproductive health, discuss examples of the influence of research on these areas and find how to communicate research to policymakers.
Prof. Sai called on African leaders to show commitment in addressing family planning issues since it was one of the tools which could address maternal health problems when applied.
Prof. Sai noted that stronger commitment by African governments was required to address the issue of rapid population growth and meet MDG 5.
A recent report by World Health Organisation (WHO) corroborates Prof Sai�s fears, saying a rising proportion of abortions worldwide are putting women�s health at risk. The WHO study suggests global abortion rates are steady, at 28 per 1,000 women a year.
However, the proportion of the total carried out without trained clinical help rose from 44% in 1995 to 49% in 2008.
The Lancet, which carried the report, said the figures were �deeply disturbing.�
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