Feburary 5, 2003
LALITPUR : Only 13 per cent of males and nine per cent of females have, according to a public opinion poll, know about the act on abortion passed in 2002.
Even most of the city dwellers have not heard about the legalisatin of abortion five months after the Royal assent was given to the 11th amendment to the bill on women’s property rights, 2002 that also includes the women’s right to terminate unwanted pregnancies.The research covered 1,314 males and 1,299 females aged 18-60 years in 10 major cities of Nepal in the last four months, informed CREHPA (Centre for Research on Environement, Health and Population Activities) at an informal meeting organised here today. In Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, 29 per cent of males and 26 per cent of females said that they had heard about legalisation of abortion.
However, only about 21 per cent of males and 16 per cent of females in the cities of Pokhara, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Birgunj, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj, Dhangadhi and Dharan outside the valley knew about the law. Speaking on ‘Decriminalisation of abortion in Nepal: Looking ahead with caution’, Melissa Uprety, legal advisor for Asia Centre for Reproductive Rights, USA said that it was inevitable that strategies and information materials needed to be developed to strengthen public education and advocacy campaigns at the district and community levels.
“It would be highly effective to create awareness about the new legislation, modify social attitudes, discourage unauthorised providers and to encourage use of contraceptives,” said Uprety. However, enactment of any law depends on the socio-legal, economic, religious, political, medical, available health-related equipment and manpower and sensitising factors, she added.
In the changed context, it is likely that a substantial proportion of women with unplanned pregnancies would seek to terminate their them in public and private health sector facilities. Moreover, the proportion of women approaching unqualified practitioners for abortion leading to their death is not likely to drop immediately, said Binod Nepal of CREHPA, presenting a paper on post legalisation challenges.
Legalisation of abortion has created new paradigms and challenges for Nepal. The challenges range from access to safe abortion services, skilled human resources and advocacy. Safeguarding women’s rights to abortion and protecting innocent women from false accusation for illegal abortion or infanticide are potential challenges.
On the other hand, women in rural areas delay seeking medical care for abortion complications due to fear, shame, lack of knowledge and money, and lack of access to medical facilities. There is a need to support the government’s efforts to prevent unsafe abortions by designing policies and programmes to address the post legalisation needs and challenges, said Nepal.
A study shows that between 20 to 60 per cent of obstetric and gynecological patients in major government hospitals of the country suffer from abortion complications.