Summary

In this study session, you have learned that:

• Adolescent pregnancy is a common occurrence in many societies 
• A significant proportion of adolescent pregnancies (between 10 and 40%) are unintended. For instance, a study in Ethiopia showed that more than half of all births to girls below the age of 15 are unintended/unplanned.
• There are many factors that may lead to unwanted pregnancy, including unplanned sex without the availability of contraceptives, incorrect use of the chosen contraceptive method and not using contraceptives due to lack of information or unavailability.
• Abortion is the termination or ending of a pregnancy before fetal viability, which is conventionally taken to be less than 28 weeks from the last normal menstrual period. It can happen on its own (spontaneous abortion or miscarriage), or it can be caused deliberately (induced).
• Studies in Ethiopia indicate that the majority (three-quarters) of abortions are spontaneous abortions; the remainder are induced. Other studies in Ethiopia suggest that the proportion of induced abortions may be much higher than this.
• Providers of legal abortions include health assistants and medical doctors but abortion may also be self-induced or illegally induced by other persons.
• In Ethiopia materials commonly used for the unsafe induction of an abortion include; plastic catheters, plastic tubes, Ampicillin, metallic rods and roots or herbs.
• The reasons why adolescents seek abortions include fear of dropping out of education, financial difficulties, fear about what people might think or say, lack of a stable relationship and where the baby was conceived as a consequence of a non-consensual sexual act such as rape or incest.
• Abortion is legal in Ethiopia only under certain conditions, which include cases of rape, incest or fetal impairment; if the mother’s life or her child’s life is in danger, if she is unable to bring up the child owing to her status as a minor (less than 18 years old) or to a physical or mental infirmity or illness.
• Post-abortion care involves 3 important aspects of care, which include emergency treatment of abortion and potentially life-threatening complications, post-abortion family planning counselling and services, and linking between post-abortion emergency services and other reproductive healthcare services.