Who Has Abortion in Ghana?

Akwasi Kumi-Kyereme, University of Cape Coast

In Ghana abortion services are not readily available in public health institutions, which are widespread even though the 1985 abortion law allows therapeutic abortion. However, the services are offered by some private health practitioners especially in the urban centres, which, presupposes that the services are available to a segment of women. Using data from the 2003 and 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys this paper examines the socio-demographic characteristics of women who had terminated pregnancy. The results show a significant relationship between incidence of abortion and age. No significant relationship was observed between abortion and residence of women, although rural residents in 2003 and 2008 were more likely to induce abortion. Weak relationships were observed between incidence of abortion, education and marital status. Understanding the relationships between incidence of abortion and socio-demographic characteristics is essential to designing programmatic interventions for comprehensive abortion care.