The Chief Medical Director (CMD), Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Prof. Adetokunbo O. Fabamwo has called for the review of Nigrria’s Abortion Laws, stressing that the liberalisation of the laws may reduce deaths from unsafe abortions in Nigeria
He stated this in his address at the 6th Annual Abimbola Omololu-Mulele Lecture titled: “The Tortuous Road To Maternal Mortality Reduction In Nigeria, Avoidable Strongholds On Liberal Abortion Laws”, organised by the University of Lagos, Office of Advancement and the Board of Trustees of Abimbola Aina Omololu-Mulele.
The annual lecture, held at the Old Great Hall, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba on Thursday, was organised in honour of the late Mrs. Frederica Ambibola Aina Omololu-Mulele, an educationist, lawyer, and philanthropist par excellence.
She was the Director and Chairman of Lodigan (Nigeria), a prominent Building Construction Company, and received numerous accolades for her contributions to education from esteemed organisations such as the Nigeria Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Nigeria/French Language Village, and the Best Standard International School.
Revealing that the late Mrs. Omololu-Mulele contributed significantly to the progress of children at all levels, Prof. Fabamwo explained the complexities of reducing maternal mortality in Nigeria and the need to particularly focus on the obstacles posed by restrictive abortion laws. He highlighted the alarming rates of maternal deaths in Nigeria due to unsafe abortions, emphasising the urgent need for reform to safeguard women’s health and well-being.
He said Maternal Death, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), is the death of a pregnant woman due to complications related to pregnancy underlying conditions worsened by the pregnancy or management of these conditions, adding that this can occur either while she’s pregnant or within six weeks of the resolution of the pregnancy.
The Guest Lecturer said, “A woman dies of pregnancy-related causes every two minutes, most of these deaths are preventable with the right care at the right time. Unsafe abortion accounts for at least 13 percent of maternal deaths worldwide”,
He attributed the prevalence of unsafe abortions in Nigeria to stringent abortion laws that drive women to seek clandestine procedures. Despite efforts to liberalise abortion laws for safe terminations, challenges persist. He presented statistical data on maternal mortality rates in various countries, illustrating the disparities and emphasising the importance of institutionalising safe abortion practices for medical reasons.
The CMD pointed out the efforts made for the reduction of maternal mortality in the form of global initiatives, country-level initiatives, non-governmental efforts, community-based initiatives, and also key interventions by prominent individuals. He also gave an exposé on what unsafe abortion laws entail all over the world, such as to save the life of the mother, preserve the physical health of the mother, and preserve the mental health of the mother in cases of rape or incest.
Lamenting the kickbacks experienced from efforts made to legalise the safe termination of pregnancy in Nigeria and some states like Imo and Lagos, the Erudite Professor, therefore, proposed that the suspended “Lagos State Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancy for Legal Indications”, a 40-Paged document put together by the Permanent Secretary of Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye should be reviewed.
He stressed the need to engage leading and influential media houses, hold breakfast meetings, luncheons, and have roundtable discussions to ensure that the public is adequately enlightened on the matter till the goal of liberalising abortion laws to reduce deaths from unsafe abortions is achieved.
The high point of the event was the emergence of Dr. Ayokunle Olumodeji, Fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and West African College of Surgeons, an Associate Lecturer at the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), and Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), as winner a Grant Award for his work in “HPV E6/E7 ONCO Protein Rapid Point-Of-Care Test Versus Pap Smear for Cervical Cancer Screening: A Comparative Effectiveness Study”.
This was alongside Dr. Saalu Tersur, a Senior Registrar in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba; and a Doctor of Medicine (MD) student of National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, who also won a Grant Award for his work titled: “Serum Concentration Of Fat-Soluble Vitamins A, D, E and K in Endometriosis and Non-Endometriosis Women and Association with Endometriosis – Related Pain: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study in Lagos, Nigeria.”
