Determinants and Barriers to Safe Abortion Care in Nigeria: A Mixed Method Analysis

Sunday Abatan, Federal University Oye
Sola Asa, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

This study employed a mixed-methods approach to investigate the determinants and barriers to safe abortion care in Nigeria. The quantitative aspect of this study used data from the 2019–2020 follow-up survey. These were 1388 women from six Nigerian states who reported an abortion experience in the 2018 baseline cross-sectional survey of Nigeria Performance Monitoring for Action(PMA)datasets. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted among women who sought post-abortion care in two teaching hospitals in Southwest Nigeria (FETHI-and-LAUTECH). Findings show that 30% of the sampled population had unsafe abortions. Younger women were less likely to practice safe abortion care compared to older women (OR=0.64,p<0.05), and there is an increase in the odds ratio of safe abortion care from 1.83 to 3.84 as the level of education increases from primary to higher education. The IDI results revealed that low socio-economic status, socio-cultural norms, and legal restrictions are major barriers to safe abortion in Nigeria.