Is Medical Abortion Legal in Pakistan

Some private providers have also attempted to rename abortion services to make them less daunting. In Karachi, there is an abortion clinic that looks like an upscale salon with mood lighting and lounge chairs in the room where women rest after surgery. The organization, which has worked with the clinic, said it was trying to make the service more accessible to urban workers to prevent them from terminating their pregnancies in a way that would kill them. 15. Saleem S and Fikree FF, Induced abortions in low socio-economic settlements of Karachi, Pakistan: rates and women`s perspectives, Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 2001, 51(8):275–279. According to gynecologist Dr. Saadia Ahsan Pal, many doctors who refuse to perform abortions treat the same patients after women have tried to have an abortion at home. “One of my colleagues refused to abort a patient,” she recalls. “The patient then asked my colleague if she would be willing to deal with her postabortion complications if she arranged an abortion at home.” In Pakistan, abortions are performed by both formally trained health workers and traditional practitioners, often in unsafe conditions. Where a woman lives and how much she can afford to pay for the procedure often determines who performs the abortion and how safe it is. According to family planning researchers, the provisions of the country`s penal code relating to abortion are vague. The procedure is “legal only in very limited circumstances,” notes the Guttmacher Institute.

Abortions can be performed in secret clinics, at least in large urban areas, and as long as you can pay the cost – but again, they are not always safe.13 Of the 32 clinics studied in three provincial capitals in 1997, 10 were run by female doctors, 13 by health visitors, and 13 by health visitors, six by other types of nurses and three by paramedics. Although most clinics employ qualified staff, only seven are properly equipped to perform safe abortions. Providers typically performed dilation and curettage procedures. They almost never used manual vacuum suction, a less invasive procedure. It`s no surprise that even doctors don`t know what`s allowed and what`s not, Sadiah Ahsan Pal, a well-known gynecologist in Karachi, told VICE World News. Pal said sexual health issues are usually set aside when she studies gynecology or are discussed with sinful overtones. “We weren`t taught in medical school. And when we were taught, it was that at that age as a girl, it was very uncomfortable,” she said. And most of the girls in my class simply left that class as it was taught. It was very disrespectful. Despite the family`s skepticism, an investigator in the case, Tassaduq Khokhar, said all the evidence — including the autopsy report showing retained fetal parts — suggests it was a botched abortion.

Ijaz, the friend, confessed his involvement in the termination of the pregnancy. His paternal aunt, who Khokhar said investigators said carried out the operation at his home, is also a suspect. “The majority of women seeking abortions are married women over the age of 25. In fact, it is used as a family planning method,” says Kulsoom Masood, who has worked in the public health sector in Pakistan and trained more than 50 community health workers in Punjab and Sindh in a transformative approach to family planning and is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree in public health. Officially trained health workers and traditional practitioners perform abortions in Pakistan, often in unsafe conditions. Who performs abortion and how safe it is often depends on where a woman lives and how much she can afford to pay for the procedure. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that has conducted numerous sexual health studies in Pakistan, about 3.8 million unintended pregnancies occur there each year. And because contraceptives aren`t widely available — only 34 percent of married women use them — many rely on abortion as a form of birth control. Sana had her second abortion at the clinic that day because, as she said, her “family is complete.” The combination of a relatively high national fertility level with a relatively low proportion of contraceptives and a moderately high abortion rate suggests that many Pakistani women use abortion as part of their strategy to avoid unwanted or inappropriate births, despite the illegality of the procedure and the significant health risks it entails. As evidenced by the large number of people who are hospitalized each year to treat complications.

The need for abortion is likely to be particularly prevalent among women who fear that contraceptives will harm their health, believe their husbands are against family planning, or believe that religious and social norms do not approve of contraceptive use.