Abortion safety in Ghana: does motivation matter?

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

In Ghana, abortion is restricted except on a few legal grounds. About 11% of maternal deaths in Ghana are due to unsafe abortion. This study investigated the association between abortion motivation (the primary reason women sought abortion) and abortion safety.

Methods

We analyzed a sample of 1,425 women using the 2017 Ghana Maternal Health Survey. Abortion safety was defined using WHO three-level categorization (safe, less safe, least safe) operationalized to the Ghanaian context. We examined the relationship between abortion motivation and abortion safety using multinomial logistic regression analysis.

Results

Legal grounds for abortion accounted for 9% of all abortions. Compared to women who had a legal reason for seeking an abortion, women with non-le

SUBMITTER: Conteh J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12577305 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature