Views of women about accessibility of safe abortion care services in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: In many developing countries, maternal deaths occur mainly as a result of unsafe abortions, a situation reflecting the inaccessibility of safe abortion services in such countries. In Ethiopia, unsafe abortion accounts for 32% of maternal deaths and almost 60% of gynaecological admissions, and is one of the top ten causes of general hospital admissions. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the views of women about the accessibility of safe abortion services in governmental health centres. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional descriptive and non-experimental study using structured questionnaires was conducted. 342 women who had received abortion care services in governmental health centres participated. Findings: 46.8% of the participants do not know about the penal code regarding safe abortion care. 52.9% of the participants viewed safe abortion care as inaccessible because there are various and competing factors which make abortion service to be viewed as accessible or inaccessible and these include distance to nearest health centre, the time it takes to receive the service, the cost of the service, and the lack of appropriate skills in the service providers. Conclusion: An improvement in the accessibility of abortion services will prevent deaths resulting from unsafe abortions