Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T11:40:23.792Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

MEN'S ATTITUDES ABOUT ABORTION IN UGANDA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2010

ANN M. MOORE ,
GABRIEL JAGWE-WADDA  and
AKINRINOLA BANKOLE
ANN M. MOORE
Affiliation:
Guttmacher Institute, New York, USA
AKINRINOLA BANKOLE
Affiliation:
Guttmacher Institute, New York, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Abortion is illegal in Uganda except to save the life of the woman. Nevertheless, the practice is quite common: about 300,000 induced abortions occur annually among Ugandan women aged 15–49 (Singh et al., 2005) and a large proportion of these women require treatment for post-abortion complications. In the male-dominant culture of Uganda, where men control most of the financial resources, men play a critical part in determining whether women receive a safe abortion, or appropriate treatment if they experience abortion complications. This study examines men's roles in determining women's access to a safer abortion and post-abortion care. It draws on in-depth interviews carried out in 2003 with 61 women aged 18–60 and 21 men aged 20–50 from Kampala and Mbarara, Uganda. Respondents' descriptions of men's involvement in women's abortion care agreed that men's stated attitudes about abortion often prevented women from involving them in either the abortion or post-abortion care. Most men believe that if a woman is having an abortion, it must be because she is pregnant with another man's child, although this does not correspond with women's reasons for having an abortion – a critical disjuncture revealed by the data between men's perceptions of, and women's realities regarding, reasons for seeking an abortion. If the woman does experience post-abortion complications, the prevailing attitude among men in the sample was that they cannot support a woman in such a situation seeking care because if it had been his child, she would not have had a covert abortion. Since money is critical to accessing appropriate care, without men's support, women seeking an abortion may not be able to access safer abortion options and if they experience complications, they may delay care-seeking or may not obtain care at all. Barriers to involving men in abortion decision-making endanger women's health and possibly their lives.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 31 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdel-Tawab, N., Huntington, D., Hassan, E. O., Youssuf, H. & Nawar, L. (1999) Effects of husband involvement on postabortion patients' recovery and use of contraception in Egypt. In Huntington, D. & Piet-Pelon, N. J. (eds) Postabortion Care: Lessons from Operations Research. Population Council, New York, pp. 16–37.Google Scholar
African Union (2003) Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. URL: http://www.achpr.org/english/_info/women_en.html (accessed 26th January 2006).Google Scholar
Agyei, W. K. A. & Migadde, M. (1995) Demographic and sociocultural factors influencing contraceptive use in Uganda. Journal of Biosocial Science 27, 47–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Atuyambe, L., Mirembe, F., Johansson, A., Kirumira, E. K. & Faxelid, E. (2005) Experiences of pregnant adolescents – voices from Akiso district, Uganda. African Health Sciences 5, 304–309.Google Scholar
Brookman-Amissah, E. & Moyo, J. B. (2004) Abortion law reform in Sub-Saharan Africa: no turning back. Reproductive Health Matters 12 (24 Supplement), 227–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chikovore, J., Lindmark, G., Nystrom, L. & Mbizvo, M. T. (2002) The hide-and-seek game: men's perspectives on abortion and contraceptive use within marriage in a rural community in Zimbabwe. Journal of Biosocial Science 34, 317–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dudgeon, M. R. & Inhorn, M. C. (2004) Men's influences on women's reproductive health: medical anthropological perspectives. Social Science & Medicine 59, 1379–1395.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ezeh, A. C. (1993) The influence of spouses over each other's contraceptive attitudes in Ghana. Studies in Family Planning 24, 163–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Family Care International (1999) Meeting the Cairo Challenge: Progress in Sexual and Reproductive Health. FCI, New York.Google Scholar
Fayorsey, C. (1989) Family planning in Africa; the relevance of gender issues. In Developments in Family Planning Policies and Programmes in Africa. Regional Institute for Population, Legon, Ghana, pp. 194–229.Google Scholar
Greene, M. E. (2000) Changing women and avoiding men: gender stereotypes and reproductive health programmes. IDS Bulletin 31, 49–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gürsoy, A. (1996) Abortion in Turkey: a matter of state, family or individual decision. Social Science & Medicine 42, 531–542.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guttmacher Institute (2010) Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States. In brief. Guttmacher Institute, New York.Google Scholar
Jagwe-Wadda, G., Moore, A. M. & Woog, V. (2006) Abortion Morbidity in Uganda: Evidence from Two Communities. Occasional Report No. 26, Guttmacher Institute, New York.Google Scholar
Kaida, A., Kipp, W., Hessel, P. & Konde-Lule, J. (2005) Male participation in family planning: results from a qualitative study in Mpigi District, Uganda. Journal of Biosocial Science 37, 269–286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kyomuhendo, G. B. (2003) Low use of rural maternity services in Uganda: impact of women's status, traditional beliefs and limited resources. Reproductive Health Matters 11, 16–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mbizvo, M. T. & Adamchak, D. J. (1991) Family planning knowledge, attitudes and practice of men in Zimbabwe. Studies in Family Planning 22, 31–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (1995) National Population Policy for Sustainable Development. Kampala, Uganda.Google Scholar
Moore, A. M., Frohwirth, L. F. & Miller, E. (2010) Male reproductive control of women who have experienced intimate partner violence in the United States. Social Science & Medicine 70, 1737–1744.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nyanzi, S., Nyanzi, B. & Bessie, K. (2005) ‘Abortion? That's for women!’ Narratives and experiences of commercial motorbike riders in South-Western Uganda. African Journal of Reproductive Health 9, 142–161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prada, E., Mirembe, F., Ahmed, F. H., Nalwadda, R. & Kiggundu, C. (2005) Abortion and Post-abortion Care in Uganda: A Report from Health Care Professionals and Health Facilities. Occasional Report No. 17, Guttmacher Institute, New York.Google Scholar
Rasch, V. & Lyaruu, M. A. (2005) Unsafe abortion in Tanzania and the need for involving men in postabortion contraceptive counseling. Studies in Family Planning 36, 301–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Republic of Uganda (2008) Road Map for Accelerating the Reduction of Maternal and Neonatal Mortality and Morbidity in Uganda 2006–2015. Republic of Uganda.Google Scholar
Rossier, C. (2007) Abortion: an open secret? Abortion and social network involvement in Burkina Faso. Reproductive Health Matters 15, 230–238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singh, S., Moore, A. M., Bankole, A., Mirembe, F., Wolf, D. & Prada, E. (2006) Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in Uganda: Causes and Consequences. Guttmacher Institute, New York.Google Scholar
Singh, S., Prada, E., Mirembe, F. & Kiggundu, C. (2005) The incidence of induced abortion in Uganda. International Family Planning Perspectives 31, 183–191.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thaddeus, S. & Maine, D. (1994) Too far to walk: maternal mortality in context. Social Science & Medicine 38, 1091–1110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Uganda Bureau of Statistics & Macro International (2007) Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2006. UBOS and Macro International Inc., Calverton, MD, USA.Google Scholar
Weeks, A., Lavender, T., Nazziwa, E. & Mirembe, F. (2005) Personal accounts of ‘near-miss’ maternal mortalities in Kampala, Uganda. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 112, 1302–1307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Bank (2009) World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography. The World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2007a) Maternal Mortality in 2005: Estimates Developed by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, and the World Bank. WHO, Geneva.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2007b) Unsafe Abortion: Global and Regional Estimates of Incidence of Unsafe Abortion and Associated Mortality in 2003. WHO, Geneva.Google Scholar