Awareness on the availability of legal safe abortions among female adolescents attending secondary school in Ndola district, Zambia

Abstract

Background:Illegal unsafe induced abortion is a public health problem in Zambia. Statistics reveal an extremely high induced abortion mortality ratio of 120 induced abortion-related deaths per 100 000 live births and more than half of these deaths are among schoolgirls. Although abortion in Zambia is legal on medical and social grounds, most women in Zambia resort to illegal abortions because legal abortion services are inaccessible, unacceptable and for others, lack of knowledge of the provision of such facilities at health institutions. This study sought to determine the level of awareness of the legality of clinical abortions among the schoolgirls. Method:The design was a crosssectional study. A total of 367 pupils were randomly selected from grade 10 to grade 12 classes available for each school. SPSS for windows version 16 was used to enter and analyze data. The Chi squared test was used to
determine associations between categorical variables. Cut off point for statistical significance was set at 5%.Results:A response rate of 94.3% (346/367) was achieved. Overall 301 (87.0%) out of 346 participants were not aware of the provisions of the law on termination of pregnancy. Most of the participants reported knowing people who aborted by wrong methods and done by untrained people 320 (92.5%), in wrong places 292 (84.4%)and yet most (82.1%) of them were aware of complications and negative attitudes to its legalization. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that most female adolescents were not aware of the provisions of the law on termination of pregnancy.Hence,the need for health education on the provisions of the law and making the service accessible for schoolgirls.