Incidence and Consequences of Induced Abortion in Senegal, 2012

Abortion is illegal in Senegal except to save a woman’s life, and is highly stigmatized. An unknown number of women nevertheless obtain abortions; because they do so clandestinely, it is difficult to ascertain the magnitude of abortion and its consequences. 

We estimate the incidence of abortion and of resulting complications in Senegal using the Abortion Incidence Complications Methodology, an estimation technique that has been used in several other countries. We conducted a nationally representative survey of 168 facilities that provide postabortion care (PAC), from which we estimated the number of women who receive PAC, and a survey of 110 professionals knowledgeable about abortion service provision, from whom we obtained assessments of the likelihood of women experiencing abortion complications and receiving treatment for those complications, and of the types of providers and methods women use to obtain abortions.

Preliminary findings indicate that abortion incidence is lower in Senegal than the average for West Africa, and that the rate is higher among women in Dakar than elsewhere in the country. Women in rural areas primarily self-induce or seek abortions from untrained traditional practitioners, while urban women have better access to doctors and trained clinicians; a similar disparity exists between poor and non-poor women. As a result, rural poor women who have an abortion are more than twice as likely to experience complications than urban non-poor women. Ingesting caustic substances and herbal solutions are among the most common methods used to terminate unwanted pregnancies. The most common complications are hemorrhage and incomplete abortion.