Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-09T16:18:45.667Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Induced Abortion in a Ghanaian Family

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Wolf Bleek
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

There is considerable evidence that induced abortions account for a great deal of the decline in birth rate or slowing down of the growth in birth rate in a number of countries such as Japan, the USSR, Hungary, the other East European countries, Korea, Taiwan, Chile, and Uruguay. Tietze and Lewit (1969: 21) wrote: “Abortion is still the most wide-spread, and the most clandestine method of fertility control in the modern world.” In Ghana public opinion also suggests that induced abortion is the most widespread method of fertility control. Whether this is true is difficult to ascertain, because induced abortion in Ghana is certainly, as Tietze and Lewit wrote, “the most clandestine method.” It is forbidden by law and is generally condemned by the people. Usually, therefore, abortions are performed in secret, which renders research extremely difficult. Ironically, however, the secret character of abortion makes the need of investigation even more urgent, because illegally performed abortions tend to cause the gravest medical complications.

To my knowledge, no one has yet made a scientific estimate concerning how often and under what circumstances induced abortion occurs in Ghana, and what its consequences are. I do not intend to make such an attempt either. My sole intention is to look at induced abortion in the context of a single Akan matrilineage in order to gain a more realistic insight into the conditions that lead to abortion, the ways it is practiced, and the reaction to it by the people concerned. This paper will, therefore, have little value for demographers who require statistical evidence. At best it may suggest a number of hypotheses about the incidence of induced abortion in Ghana and thus encourage further research.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , April 1978 , pp. 103 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1978

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

REFERENCES

Addo, N. O. et al (eds.) (1971) Symposium on Implications of Population Trends for Policy Measures in West Africa. Ghana Population Studies No. 3. Legon: University of Ghana.Google Scholar
Ampofo, D. A. (1971) “Abortion in the Accra Korle Bu Hospital: Demographic, Social and Medical Perspectives,” pp. 79–105 in Addo, N. C. et al (1971).Google Scholar
Ampofo, D. A.. (1972) “Abortion trend in Korle Bu Hospital.” Paper for the Ghana Medical Association.Google Scholar
Armijo, A. and Monreal, T.. (1965) “The Problem of Induced Abortion in Chile.” Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 43 (2): 263–72.Google Scholar
Bentsi-Enchill, K. (1973) “Abortion and the Law.” Unpublished paper. University of Ghana.Google Scholar
Berelson, B. et al (eds.) (1966) Family Planning and Population Programs. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bleek, W. (1976) “Sexual Relations and Birthcontrol in Ghana: A Case Study of a Rural Town.”Google Scholar
Caldwell, J. C. (1968) Population Growth and Family Change in Africa; the New Urban Elite in Ghana. Canberra: Australian National University Press.Google Scholar
Cragg, J. B. and Pirie, N. W., (eds.) (1955) The Numbers of Men and Animals. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.Google Scholar
Davis, K. (1965) “The Theory of Change and Response in Modern Demographic History.” Population Index 29: 345–66.Google Scholar
Douglas, Mary. (1966) “Population Control in Primitive Groups.” British Journal of Sociology 17: 263–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Figa-Talamanca, Irene. (1972) “Inconsistencies of Attitudes and Behavior in Family-Planning Studies.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 34: 336–44.Google Scholar
Fortes, M. (1954) “A Demographic Field Study in Ashanti,” pp. 225–339 in Lorimer, (1954).Google Scholar
Hawthorn, G. (1970) The Sociology of Fertility. London: Collier-MacMillan.Google Scholar
Heer, D. M. (1965) “Abortion, Contraception and Population Policy in the Soviet Union.” Demography 2: 531–39.Google Scholar
Lorimer, F. (ed.) (1954) Culture and Human Fertility. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar
Mehlan, K. (1966) “The Socialist Countries of Europe,” pp. 207–26 in Berelson, et al (eds.)Google Scholar
Monreal, T. (1965) “Discussion.” Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 43 (2): 277–78.Google Scholar
Monreal, T. and Armijo, A.. (1968) “Evaluation of the Program for the Prevention of Induced Abortion and for Family Planning in the City of Santiago.” Santiago: Escuela de Salubridad, Universidad de Chile (mimeo).Google Scholar
Murumatsu, M. (1960) “Effect of Induced Abortion on the Reduction of Births in Japan.” Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 38: 153–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nag, M. (1962) Factors Affecting Human Fertility in Non-industrial Societies: a Cross-cultural Study. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Neel, J. V. (1970) “Lessons from a ‘Primitive’ People.” Science 170: 815–22.Google Scholar
Rattray, R. S. (1927) Religion and Art in Ashanti. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Requena, M. (1968) “The Problem of Induced Abortion in Latin America.” Demography 5: 785–99.Google Scholar
Schapera, I. (1955) “An Anthropologist's Approach to Population Growth: Studies in the Bechuanaland Protectorate,” pp. 23–29 in Cragg, and Pirie, (eds.) 1955.Google Scholar
Tietze, C. (1965) “Discussion.” Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 43 (2): 277.Google Scholar
Tietze, C. and Lewitt, S.. (1969) “Abortion.” Scientific American 220 (1): 21–27.Google Scholar
Westoff, C. F. (1965) “Discussion.” Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 43 (2): 112–14.Google Scholar