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Induced Abortion in a Ghanaian Family

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Wolf Bleek
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Extract

There is considerable evidence that induced abortions account for a great deal of the decline in birth rate or slowing down of the growth in birth rate in a number of countries such as Japan, the USSR, Hungary, the other East European countries, Korea, Taiwan, Chile, and Uruguay. Tietze and Lewit (1969: 21) wrote: “Abortion is still the most wide-spread, and the most clandestine method of fertility control in the modern world.” In Ghana public opinion also suggests that induced abortion is the most widespread method of fertility control. Whether this is true is difficult to ascertain, because induced abortion in Ghana is certainly, as Tietze and Lewit wrote, “the most clandestine method.” It is forbidden by law and is generally condemned by the people. Usually, therefore, abortions are performed in secret, which renders research extremely difficult. Ironically, however, the secret character of abortion makes the need of investigation even more urgent, because illegally performed abortions tend to cause the gravest medical complications.

To my knowledge, no one has yet made a scientific estimate concerning how often and under what circumstances induced abortion occurs in Ghana, and what its consequences are. I do not intend to make such an attempt either. My sole intention is to look at induced abortion in the context of a single Akan matrilineage in order to gain a more realistic insight into the conditions that lead to abortion, the ways it is practiced, and the reaction to it by the people concerned. This paper will, therefore, have little value for demographers who require statistical evidence. At best it may suggest a number of hypotheses about the incidence of induced abortion in Ghana and thus encourage further research.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , April 1978 , pp. 103 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1978

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References

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