According to a study jointly conducted by IIPS, the Delhi-based Population Council and the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, a total of 15.6 million (1.56 crore) abortions took place across India in 2015. As per a Times of India report, the Centre’s data states that figures have remained at 7 lakh for the last 15 years, thereby giving a contradictory picture. The research paper was published in The Lancet Global Health medical journal on Monday, 11 December.
The government figure talked of surgical abortions carried out in its own hospitals. The private sector was not counted, nor were medical abortions.Dr Chandra Shekhar of International Institute of Population Sciences in Mumbai
The comprehensive study on abortions and unintended pregnancies that accounted for 2015 data involved compilation of national sales, distribution data of medical abortion pills followed by surveys that were conducted in public and private health facilities of six Indian states.
Overall, using abortion pills has been the most popular method. The figures further reflect that 12.7 million (81 percent) abortions were medication abortions, 2.2 million (14 percent) were surgical, and 0.8 million (5 percent) were through other, probably unsafe, methods. A doctor’s prescription is required for medical abortions using mifepristone and mifepristone-misoprostol combipacks.
The study manifested alarming facts, including that 81 percent women were forced to put their lives at risk by resorting to medication abortions instead of visits to hospitals.
In addition, the TOI report stated that the new study also estimated that half of the total 48.1 million pregnancies in 2015 were unintended. Around 53 percent Indians use modern contraception, but half the couples are ignorant as to how to use a condom, the study stated.
The revised number of abortions should not be taken as a ‘surprise’, a doctor at a government hospital told TOI.
Abortion medicines are within the safety net when used appropriately and within a nine-week gestational limit, recommends WHO. Reportedly, with the absence of legal abortion services, close to three in four abortions are achieved using drugs from chemists and informal vendors.
“The use of medicines for abortions has brought down this number from 12 percent to 8 percent in recent years, but it is still huge,” said Dr Sheriar, highlighting the dire need to remove barriers to abortion for women.
As per the results, abortions don’t require the presence of sophisticated or highly trained doctors and doesn’t need to take place in hospitals.
To expand the number of number of providers and facilities for safer abortion services, the study recommended AYUSH doctors (practitioners of indigenous medicine), and permitting nurses and midwives to provide abortion medicines.
(With inputs from Times of India)
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