Abortion Incidence and Safety in Nigeria: Evidence of Inequities

Suzanne Bell, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Elizabeth F. Omoluabi, Akena Plus Heath Trust
Funmilola OlaOlorun, University of Ibadan
Mridula Shankar, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Caroline Moreau, INSERM/INED and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

This study seeks to estimate the one-year induced abortion incidence and proportion of abortions that are unsafe overall and by background characteristics using direct and indirect methodologies. Data come from a population-based, nationally representative survey of reproductive age women (15 to 49) in Nigeria. Interviewers asked women to report on the abortion experiences of their closest female confidante and themselves. A total of 11,106 women of reproductive age completed the female survey; they reported on 5,772 confidantes. The one-year abortion incidence for respondents was 39.4 per 1,000 women aged 15-49 while the confidante incidence was 54.4. Women in their 20s, women with secondary or higher education, and urban women were the most likely to have had a recent abortion. The majority of respondent and confidante abortions were unsafe (63.4% and 68.6%, respectively), with young, uneducated, rural women significantly more likely to have had the most unsafe abortions.