Ghana Health Service (GHS) figures show that 53,114 abortions were supervised in public health facilities across the country in 2017.

Unsafe abortion also recorded 13,918 deaths during the same period, compared to 15,325 cases of safe abortion in 2016, said Raphael Godlove Athena, chief executive officer of the Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), a non-governmental organization on health conscious.

In an interview with Ghana’s Sunyani News Agency in commemoration of the 2018 Safe Abortion Day, Ahenu said providing safe and legal abortions is essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. (SDGs) access to sexual and relations and reproductive health.

He added that it was necessary for governments to commit more resources (financial and logistical resources) to provide comprehensive advice on sex education, family planning, access to safe abortion and contraceptives.

The International Day of Safe Abortion, which takes place on 28 September each year, was established by the Women’s Global Reproductive Rights Network (WGNRR) to combat the decriminalization of abortion. Ahenu lamented that unreported cases of unsafe abortion have killed many women in the country due to laws banning abortion.

According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), 25 million unsafe abortions occur each year worldwide, Ahenu said. He stated that US policy on the global gag rule remains the primary contributor. The policy denies US funding for family planning and public assistance programs.

He said his NGO was determined to use all available resources to intensify its advocacy campaign on safe abortion and easy access to contraceptives to help reduce maternal mortality.