Source: All Africa
Acting Country Director of an international non-governmental organization, Ipas Nigeria, Ms. Hauwa Shekarau has called for a review of the restrictive abortion laws in the country.
She made the call during the organisation's media training workshop on increasing community awareness on sexual and reproductive health and rights issues in Abuja.
While explaining the gaps in the penal code and criminal law in the country, she said a review of the laws was necessary because of the human rights implications of unsafe abortion.
She said access to abortion services is particularly important for women and girls who are victims of sexual violence, rape and incest and called for the domestication of international and regional instruments that promote women's health, among others.
A consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Dr Godwin Akaba said in Nigeria, unsafe abortion contributes to at least 13% of maternal mortality, adding that more than 456,000 unsafe abortions are done in Nigeria every year and 3,000 women die annually in the country as a result of it.