International Safe Abortion Day: Media Advocates Call for Immediate Adoption of Safe Abortion Guidelines
By Roseline Okakah
As the world marks International Safe Abortion Day (ISAD) today, 28 September 2025, sexual and reproductive health advocates in Nigeria have renewed calls on government at all levels to adopt and domesticate the 2018 National Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancy for Legal Indications as a life-saving healthcare tool.
Themed “Safe Abortion is Life-Saving Healthcare!”, this year’s ISAD underscores the global need to recognise access to safe abortion as both a medical necessity and a matter of human rights, dignity and justice.
According to the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS 2018), Nigeria records one of the world’s highest rates of maternal deaths, with 512 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. About 45,000 women die annually from pregnancy-related causes, representing 14 per cent of global maternal deaths. Unsafe abortion accounts for between 10 and 14 per cent of maternal morbidity and mortality in the country, making Nigeria the second largest contributor to maternal deaths globally after India.
In a foreword to the national guidelines, former Health Minister and Consultant Obstetrician-Gynaecologist, Prof. Isaac Folorunsho Adewole, cited an estimated 1.25 million induced abortions in Nigeria in 2012, with over 212,000 women treated for complications from unsafe procedures and another 285,000 suffering serious health consequences without care. He attributed these figures to low contraceptive use and Nigeria’s restrictive abortion law, which only permits termination to protect a woman’s life but remains poorly understood by both women and healthcare providers.
Marking ISAD 2025, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN Special Programme on Human Reproduction (HRP) reiterated that when carried out using WHO-recommended methods, abortion is a simple and safe intervention. “We should let evidence guide us, and centre all of our policies, recommendations and service delivery on the needs of women, girls and other people seeking care,” said Dr Bela Ganatra of WHO’s Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research.
The Network of Reproductive Health Journalists of Nigeria (NRHJN), a group of media advocates for sexual and reproductive health rights, has added its voice to the call for urgent government action. In a statement signed by its National President, Mrs ‘Yinka Shokunbi, and National Secretary, Hajia Sekinah Lawal, the group urged state governments to adopt and implement the 2018 guidelines to save lives and protect the dignity of women and girls.
“Our governments must show care, love and social responsibility to young women who are victims of rape, incest and sexual assault, and who face unwanted pregnancies that traumatise their wellbeing,” the statement read. It also highlighted the rising cases of gender-based violence, including technology-facilitated abuses, as well as the continued lack of access to modern contraception in semi-urban communities, which fuels unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
The 2018 National Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancy provide a compendium of medical conditions and circumstances where continuing pregnancy endangers a woman’s life, as well as step-by-step ethical and safe management options. However, efforts to domesticate the guidelines in some states, including Lagos, have been frustrated by opposition from conservative religious groups.
NRHJN stressed that ensuring access to safe abortion care reduces maternal mortality, improves health outcomes and upholds women’s rights. “A neglected major area of preventable maternal deaths in Nigeria is related to the provisions of the abortion law,” the group noted.
International Safe Abortion Day offers an opportunity, it said, to raise awareness about safe, respectful and rights-based abortion care as a fundamental component of health and human rights.
