Ghana
Grounds on which abortion is permitted:
To save the life of the woman Yes
To preserve physical health Yes
To preserve mental health Yes
Rape or incest Yes
Foetal impairment Yes
Economic or social reasons No
Available on request No
Additional requirements:
An abortion must be performed by a registered physician with the consent of the pregnant woman. The consent of next of kin or a guardian is required if the woman is not capable of giving consent. The abortion must be performed in a government hospital or a private hospital or clinic registered under the Private Hospitals or Maternity Homes Act of 1958 (No. 9) or in a place approved for the purpose.
Government view on fertility level: Too high
Government intervention concerning fertility level: To lower
Government policy on contraceptive use: Direct support provided
Percentage of currently married women using
modern contraception (aged 15-49, 1993): 10
Total fertility rate (1995-2000): 5.2
Age-specific fertility rate (per 1,000 women aged 15-19, 1995-2000): 113
Government has expressed particular concern about:
Morbidity and mortality resulting from induced abortion Yes
Complications of childbearing and childbirth Yes
Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births, 1990):
National 740
Western Africa 1 020
Female life expectancy at birth (1995-2000): 61.8
Until 1985, abortion in Ghana was governed by the Criminal Code of 1960 (Act 29, sections 58-59 and 67). Under the Code anyone causing or attempting to cause an abortion, regardless of whether the woman was pregnant, could be fined and/or imprisoned for up to 10 years. A woman inducing her own abortion or undergoing an illegal abortion was subject to the same punishment. An abortion was legal, however, if carried out in good faith without negligence for the purpose of providing medical or surgical treatment for the pregnant woman.
The law of 1960 was not sufficiently clear on several issues. It did not, for example, clarify who was qualified to perform an abortion, whether the consent of the woman (or guardian) was required, what the gestation limits were or where a legal abortion could be performed. Moreover, it did not define what constituted medical or surgical treatment. Two studies conducted among physicians and lawyers in the early 1970s confirmed that the law was so vague that different persons had varying interpretations of it. The studies also found that the overwhelming majority of physicians supported the drafting of a clearer and more liberal abortion law in Ghana.
Ghana enacted a new abortion law in 1985 (Law No. 102 of 22 February). In general, under this law any person administering any poison or other noxious substance to a woman or using any instruments or other means with the intent to cause an abortion is guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, regardless of whether the woman is pregnant or has given her consent. Any person inducing a woman to cause or consent to an abortion, assisting a woman to cause an abortion or attempting to cause an abortion may also be imprisoned for a term not exceeding five years. A person who supplies or procures any poison, drug or instrument or any other thing knowing that it will be used to perform an abortion is also subject to the same punishment.
Nonetheless, the new law enlarges the circumstances under which the performance of an abortion is permitted. Abortion is currently legal if the continuation of the pregnancy involves risk to the life or injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. Abortion is also legal if there is substantial risk that the child, if born, might suffer from or later develop a serious physical abnormality or disease. Finally, abortion is legal if the pregnancy results from rape, incest or the defilement of a mentally handicapped woman.
A legal abortion must be performed by a registered medical practitioner with the consent of the pregnant woman. If the woman lacks the capacity to give her own consent, the consent of her next of kin or guardian is required. The abortion must be performed in a government hospital or a private hospital or clinic registered under the Private Hospitals and Maternity Homes Act of 1958 (No. 9) or in a place approved for that purpose by the law.
Although there are no official statistics on abortion in Ghana, recent studies suggest that it is a common practice. For example, a 1987 study conducted at Accra and Tamale suggested that abortion was commonly used as a method of birth control. In 1984, a survey carried out at Accra among obstetric patients also found that 20 per cent of the women who had at least one previous hospital delivery had had at least one induced abortion. Despite the relaxation of abortion restrictions in Ghana, limitations on resources restrict the number
of legal abortions performed. Therefore, women sometimes attempt illegal abortions and then go to a hospital for treatment of abortion complications. The complications associated with illegal abortion have had serious public health implications in Ghana because they raise maternal mortality and morbidity and divert limited health resources.
Following the conclusions of an in-depth 1991 analysis of the Ghana National Family Planning Programme, the population policy of 1969 was revised in 1994. In addition, in 1992, the National Population Council was created to monitor and coordinate the activities of governmental and non-governmental bodies involved in population and family planning. The policy revision also marks a response to the results of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey of 1988, which indicated a total fertility rate of 6.4 children per woman. The survey also found that 13 per cent of currently married women were using some method of family planning and 5 per cent were using modern methods.
Source: Population Policy Data Bank maintained by the Population Division of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. For additional sources, see list of references.
Ghana
Source: The Population Policy Data Bank maintained by the Population Division of the Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis of the United Nations Secretariat. For additional sources, see list of references.