Page 189 - Health, Population and Environment Education 10

Activity: 2

Visit your locality and take interview with some females who have already born children
regularly and he problems they have faced during pregnancy time. Note them down
and later on present in your class.

Activity: 3

Prepare a project work on safe motherhood.

2. Abortion
Abortion can be defined as the ending of
pregnancy by removing a foetus or embryo
before it can survive outside the uterus.
An abortion that occurs spontaneously is
also called a miscarriage. An abortion may
be caused purposely and is then called an
induced abortion. It is also called induced
miscarriage. When allowed by law, abortion
in the developed countries is one of the safest
procedures in medicine.
Fig: 15
Modern methods use medication or surgery Safe abortion
for abortions. The drug mifepristone in
combination with misoprostol appears to be as safe and effective as surgery during the first
and second trimester of pregnancy. Birth control, such as the pill or intrauterine devices
can be used immediately following abortion. When performed legally and safely, induced
abortions do not increase the risk of long term mental or physical problems. In contrast,
unsafe abortions (those performed by unskilled individuals with hazardous equipment,
or in unsanitary facilities) cause 47,000 deaths and 5 million hospital admissions each
year through out the world. The World Health Organization recommends safe and legal
abortions to be available to all women. Around 56 million abortions are performed each
year in the world with a little under half done unsafely.
Since ancient times, abortions have been done using herbal medicines, sharp tools with
force or through other traditional methods. Abortion laws and cultural or religious views
of abortions are different around the world. In some areas, abortion is legal only in specific
cases such as rape, poverty, problems with the foetus, risk to a woman’s health or incest.
In many places, there is much debate, over the moral, ethical and legal issues of abortion.
Those who oppose abortion often maintain that an embryo or fetus is a human with a
right to life and many compare abortion to murder. Those who favor legally of abortion
often hold that a woman has a right to make decisions about her own body.
In Nepal, there is a provision of legal abortion in certain conditions. According to Abortion
Act, 2058, women can abort their pregnancy before 12 weeks without screening the gender
of the foetus. Now-a-days, safe abortion service is available at Paropkar Maternity Hospital,
Thapathali, Kathmandu, District Hospitals, Family Planning Centres and Marie Stops Centres
in different places in the country. These institutions provide the facility of safe abortion. On

GREEN Health, Population and Environment Education Book-10 189