Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Abortion on the rise: survey
IN SIX years, the number of abortions increased in Visayas from 11 for every 1,000 women to 17 in a thousand.
That, according to the Allan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) survey released last year and presented yesterday by Dr. Junice Lirza Melgar, executive director of the non-government organization Likhaan.
The survey is limited to women in the reproductive age, between 15 and 49 years old.
In the region, Central Visayas posted the highest rate of abortions with 24 in every 1,000 women while Eastern Visayas reported 17 for every 1,000 and Eastern Visayas reported 17 for every 1,000. Western Visayas reported 10 for every 1,000 women. These figures were for the year 2000 yet.
The report said Visayas and Metro Manila showed sharp increases in abortion incidence. The country had an average of 27 abortions in every thousand women.
Metro Manila leaped from 41 to 52 women in every thousand in 1994 and 2000, respectively. The Visayas figure was 11 in 1994 and 17 in 2000.
Melgar described the figures “alarming.”
Complications
Mindanao maintained its rate of 18 for every thousand women in the years cited. The rest of Luzon recorded 30 abortions in 1994, but decreased the number to 27 women for every one thousand in 2000.
This translated to 473,000 estimated abortions in 2000. Of the data, 79,000 women were treated at health facilities for abortion-related complications like severe bleeding, pain and fever. Eight hundred of them died.
More than 9,000 Visayan women were hospitalized for induced abortions.
The most common problem that led to abortion is “unintended pregnancy.” This, Melgar said, shows the importance of contraception.
Visayas recorded 78 unintended pregnancies in every thousand pregnancies in 2000. This is three unintended pregnancies lower than the national average.
“Nearly half of all pregnancies each year or 1.43 million out of 3.1 million are unintended,” concluded the AGI survey. The survey stated that “one-third of all unintended pregnancies are ended through abortion.”
In the Visayas, 44 percent of all pregnancies in the area are not planned, according to the survey.
Almost all of the women who have undergone abortion, at least 91 percent, are married. Of the married women, 57 percent have at least three children.
The most common reason for having an abortion is to escape additional financial burden with the birth of another child.
Majority also want to practice birth-spacing while a number just wants to limit the number of children.
It all boils down to family planning, said Melgar.
Family planning
She also noted the importance of legislation, more particularly of House Bill 3773 or the Responsible Parenthood and Population Management Act, which was snubbed during the 13th Congress.
For Catholics, there is always the scientific natural family planning method, said Stella Monteño of the Cebu Catholic Television Network (CCTN) and the Oasis of Love.
She said that the Church is currently campaigning for the Billings Ovulation Method, which entails religious monitoring of the mucus secretions of the vagina.
Majority of those who have abortion are poor women, comprising 68 percent of the total figure.
Of the number of women who had undergone abortion, 87 percent of them are Catholics. But Melgar said this has little bearing on the abortion rate. It just means that majority of the Filipinos are Catholics.
Only 29 percent of the abortions are done by medical doctors or at least registered nurses. The rest are either through acquaintances, medications, self-induced or the traditional hilot.
Melgar also said she believes abortion should be “decriminalized.”
“Even if it’s against the law, a lot of women are still having abortion and the more it is bawal, the more women go to unsafe providers,” said Melgar. (JGA)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 31, 2007 issue)
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