Policy Brief : Implementation of Reproductive Health Policies and Laws in the Nigerian National

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POLICY BRIEF Policy Brief

Implementation of Reproductive Health Policies and Laws in the Nigerian National Health Policy BACKGROUND Nigeria joined the other 192 Member States of the United Nations and adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015. Goal 5, target six calls for “ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.”i In addition, Nigeria endorsed regional agreements, including the African Agenda 2063, the Maputo Protocol, and the Maputo Plan of Action on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, all of which provide a strong normative framework for realizing gender equality and human rights on the continent, including sexual and reproductive health and rights. Despite Nigeria adopting these international and regional standards, there are clear demands for continuing efforts to enact laws, craft policies, foster funding, and develop national programs that will meet the needs of all Nigerian people. Such needs are particularly pronounced in the case of access to the full array of sexual and reproductive health services, including safe abortion. In 2017, the annual incidence rate of abortions in Nigeria was 41.8 per 1,000 women aged 1549 – nearly 1.8 million abortions. More than six out of 10 abortions were considered unsafe, and 11 percent of women experienced complications for which they sought post abortion care (PAC) at health care facilities. ii PAC is an integral component of comprehensive abortion care and includes interventions to treat complications sustained from unsafe and incomplete abortions and often are done to save a woman’s life. Nigeria’s annual maternal mortality ratio, one of the highest in the world, is 814 deaths per 100,000 live births and includes deaths during a pregnancy and within 42 days of a termination of a pregnancy. iii Unsafe abortion contributes to 13 percent of maternal mortality figures. ABORTION LAW S IN NIGERIA Nigeria’s legal restrictions to abortion remain archaic, and contrary to evidence based on medically accurate information necessary for responsible policies. Abortion is regulated by the Penal Code, Law No. 18, 1959, and the Criminal Code, Section 297, 1916. iv In those laws, both the procurer and supplier of surgical and medical abortion risk imprisonment of up to 14 years. The only exception is when an abortion is performed to save the life of a woman. Section 297 of the Criminal Code states: “A person is not criminally responsible for performing in good faith and with reasonable care and skill a surgical operation upon any person for his benefit, or upon an unborn child for the preservation of the mother's life, if the performance of the operation is reasonable, having regard to the patient's state at the time and


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