CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Abortion is a major issue in our present society. In Nigeria, evidence of abortion is very obvious  in cities and villages as undeveloped neonates are seen around bush paths, behind maternity environments and besides university hostels and public borrow-pits. Some pharmacy stores have been closed down and doctors arrested for unlawful involvement in practicing abortion. According to Zastrow and Krist-Ashman (2012) abortion is the “termination of pregnancy by removing an embryo or fetus from the uterus before it can survive on its own outside the womb”. This act is observed to be done by all classes of women, especially female undergraduates and secondary school students from all socio-economic and marital status; cultural and religious backgrounds are no restrictions. Early initiation of coitus in the adolescent is often carried out without birth control and many result in unwanted pregnancy which most likely lead to termination (National Statistical Service, Ministry of Health, and ICF, 2017). A close observation of the issues of abortion in Nigeria signifies that abortion is very rampant. It is a common practice among female undergraduates and secondary school students. Personal experiences by the researchers of rampant occurrence of health complications resulting from abortion which lead to death across the states and in different hospitals throughout the country confirm the high rate of abortion in Nigeria. The Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey affirmed the high rate of abortion when it revealed that 91.73 percent of government hospitals and 97.58 percent of private hospitals in Nigeria have attended to individuals suffering from abortion complications on a yearly basis (National Population Commission Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2014). Enquiries have shown that abortion is done for several reasons. The most common and obvious reason of all the considerations is that abortion as a last resort to unwanted pregnancy. For female undergraduates and secondary school students, a pregnancy is principally unwanted because of the fear and shame of interruption in education, fear of parents’ rejection, and the stigma associated with bringing up a child born out of wedlock, as well as the fact that a pregnant female may be ignorant of the person responsible for the pregnancy. Abortion is observed to be done at any stage of pregnancy. Most people execute it at the first trimester, others at the second trimester and a few even at the last trimester despite the dangers that may result from such acts. A large number of undergraduates, who seek abortion, carry it out personally at home, taking self-prescribed drugs and herbs. Some carry out abortion personally by self-administration of drugs that they have seen from the social media online as the Revolutionary Information Age has made possible (Kpolovie & Lale, 2017; Kpolovie & Onoshagbegbe, 2017).

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