Determinants of Choice of Abortion Methods among Women in Ghana; Does Knowledge on legality of Abortion Matter?

ObjectiveThis study therefore examines the role knowledge on legal abortion and other factors play in the choice of abortion methods among women within a ten-year period. DesignThe study use data from the 2007 and 2017 Ghana Maternal Health Surveys. A total sample of 2,432 women aged 15-49 whose activities related to their most recent induced abortion were selected. This study, however, limits the analysis to a subpopulation of women who have terminated a pregnancy between 2002 to 2007 and 2012 to 2017. The made use of binary logistic regression analysis to show the relationship between choice of abortion methods and knowledge of legality of abortion. SettingGhana ParticipantsWomen who had practice induce abortion Main outcome measureChoice of Abortion methods ResultsLikelihood of unsafe abortion practices was high among women who had knowledge on legality of abortion, women with no formal education, single women, rural women and women whose partners did not know about the pregnancy. ConclusionIncreasing knowledge of legal status on abortion among women corresponded with an increased in the use of unsafe abortion methods over the decade has implication for poor reproductive health outcome and increased maternal mortality among women in Ghana. Article summaryO_TEXTBOXStrengths and limitations of the study{blacktriangleright} Use of two rounds of nationally representative data to show knowledge of women on legality abortion that can be generalized. {blacktriangleright}Measurement of Safe and Unsafe Abortion methods which involved combination safe and safe provider, place of abortion and methods of abortion which reflect a robust measurement of abortion. {blacktriangleright}Interesting outcome of high unsafe abortion practices among women who have good knowledge on the legality of abortion under some circumstances {blacktriangleright}The use of secondary data prevented us from including other important variables in our study to was one major limitation of our study {blacktriangleright}Another limitation includes the inability to explore further using qualitative methods that will provide detailed explanation to the reasons of high unsafe abortion practices among highly knowledgeable women of legality of abortion C_TEXTBOX