ABORTION LEGALIZATION AND ITS IMPACT ON SEXUAL PRACTICES OF YOUTHS: A STUDY OF FCT RESIDENTS

ABORTION LEGALIZATION AND ITS IMPACT ON SEXUAL PRACTICES OF YOUTHS: A STUDY OF FCT RESIDENTS

ABSTRACT

This study examined the legalisation of abortion and its impact on young people’s sexual practices: a study of FCT inhabitants. To do this, three research questions were developed. This study used a survey design with simple random sampling procedures. The population consists of selected residents of the Federal Capital Territory. When choosing the sample size, the researcher readily chose 266 inhabitants, while 259 were returned and validated. Data was collected using a self-constructed and verified questionnaire. The collected and validated questionnaires were examined using standard deviation. The findings show that the arguments for legalising abortion include the following: criminalising abortion does not deter women from having abortions, criminalising abortion violates women’s and girls’ fundamental human rights, criminalising abortion causes women to resort to unsafe abortion methods, and criminalising abortion increases mortality and health complications caused by unsafe abortions. In terms of the findings, the study suggests that abortion, while legal, should be fully regulated. Additionally, youngsters should be educated aware of the consequences of abortion.

Chapter one

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

The term “pregnancy” refers to human gestation. It is the development of one or more embryos or foetuses in the uterus. Pregnancy typically lasts nine (9) months in humans. During the first 8 weeks after conception, the embryo develops children, and the word foetus is then used till birth.

In many nations, medical or legal definitions of human pregnancy are arbitrarily divided into three trimester periods of three months each to facilitate reference to the various stages of prenatal development.

The first trimester has the largest chance of miscarriage (natural death of the embryo or foetus). During the second trimester, the fetus’s development is easier to monitor and identify. The third trimester is characterised by foetal growth and the formation of foetal fat storage (Truffers, 2003).

Abortion is the evacuation of a developing offspring from the womb between one and seven months of pregnancy, sometimes known as delivering birth prematurely. Most abortions are referred described as miscarriages of birth. Abortion should be viewed as a life-saving measure due to disease.

However, as a result of societal changes and attitudes, it is practiced freely. It is a circumstance in which life is being tempered to the point where it is too risky and endangers the mother’s life.

Abortion is also a method of removing a pregnancy from the womb, either through the use of pills (medical abortion), which involves taking medications to produce miscarriage, or through surgery (surgical abortion), in which the pregnancy is removed from the womb.

Most abortions may be performed on a nursery basis, so you do not have to stay at the clinic overnight. Every year, approximately 12,000 teenage females have abortions (Bankole et al., 2006).