PESHAWAR: Women warned against abortion by unqualified people
By Our Correspondent
PESHAWAR, March 29: Illegal abortions carried out by unqualified people are causing serious complications for women, gynaecologists told this correspondent.
"We receive several women who complain of infertility. On recording their past history, it becomes clear that most of them have had a history of abortions, but mostly carried by unqualified doctors," said a gynaecologist at one of the city's hospital.
She said that most of these women contact midwives to get unwanted pregnancies terminated, causing them more harm than good. She said that there were hundreds of clinics established inside homes elsewhere in the province, where unqualified people carry out abortions.
Doctors said that the country's laws strictly prohibited abortions, but these are carried out illegally. Another gynaecologist recalled an incident in which she had received a woman with abnormal bleeding only a week ago. Her condition normalized only after she was operated upon immediately.
"Had she not been shifted to the hospital, she would have died of severe bleeding within 30 minutes," said the doctor, adding that the same lady had undergone an abortion at a 'clinic' run by a local midwife to terminate her unplanned pregnancy and in the process, she landed in deep trouble.
Another woman, who already had four children, wanted to terminate the fifth one, also met a similar fate when mistreated by another such midwife. Most of the abortions are carried out by midwives because doctors generally refuse to handle abortions.
Emphasizing on the illegality of abortions, a senior gynaecologist said: "We do carry out abortions, but only when the lives of either mothers or unborn children are at stake."
Assistant director of the reproductive health department Dr Fayyaz Ali said that unfortunately the word "abortion" was erroneously associated with pregnancy out of wedlock.
Citing two recent studies in Pakistan, he said that the proportion of unmarried women seeking abortion was only between seven and 10 per cent against y comparison with between 90 and 93 per cent of those who were married and already had a number of children.
He said that while there were many reasons for seeking abortions, but the major factor influencing their decision was its unwantedness. Couples either did not use at all, or use contraceptive methods without proper understanding.
"Women who become pregnant without desiring it, seek abortion and turn to whoever provide these services. These services are expensive and carry the risk of personal injury and women also risk losing their lives," said Dr Ali.
He said that about 28 per cent of the suppressed pregnancies in Pakistan were unwanted. About 75 per cent of the emergency admission into gynae wards in Pakistan were because of complications arising after abortions carried out by unskilled midwives and 13 per cent of maternal deaths occur because of this single reason, adding that most of the women who died happened to be between 31 and 40 years of age.
He said that women undergoing unsafe abortions required subsequent medical care. The unavailability of post-abortion medical care for these women creates health risks, including disability, infertility and even death, he said.
According to the law, abortions carried out before the unborn child's organs have been formed are prohibited except when performed for saving the life of the woman or for providing necessary treatment. The penalty, he said, in such cases was imprisonment of up to three years if the women was consented and up 10 years if she did not.
He said that abortions carried out after an unborn child's organs or limbs have been formed completely are prohibited except when performed for the purpose of saving a woman's life. He said that the people generally did not go to court against abortions carried out improperly that was why the practice was on the rise.
