DISTURBING DEVELOPMENT emerging from the corridors of the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly has it that illegal abortion is prevalent within the various cluster of schools.
One of these illegal abortions, the DAILY HERITAGE can confirm, almost killed a 17-year-old final year Junior High School pupil (name withheld) at LEKMA 5 and 6 basic school.
Some residents the paper spoke to have raised concerns about the severity of the issue and suggested that it needs the urgent attention of all stakeholders in the education sector and society in general.
The paper gathered from the schools that between July and October this year, a total of four minors had pregnancies terminated by the parents illegally and some almost died in the process.
What is more troubling is that these children between the ages of 12 and 16 are sexually active and the paper gathered that some of them have already terminated more than one pregnancy.
Victims
When the paper visited a victim of an illegal abortion at her residence at Nungua, she confessed to the paper that “this is my last pre-marital sex and I have asked God for forgiveness and I will not have sex until I get married.”
The pupil who had spent one week, two days at the La General Hospital as a result of the illegal abortion told the paper that, though she was unable to mention the name of the drug, it cost her GH¢80.00. Her foster mother gave glory to God that her daughter did not die.
Abortion doctor vanishes
A -19-year-old abortion doctor who has been prescribing drugs for illegal abortion has vanished from the community following threats by some concerned citizens about the rate of illegal abortions in the area.
This comes on the heels of his latest victim who almost died after taking the pill and inserting the other into her private part. She went into comma after taking the drug and was saved by doctors at the La General Hospital.
Nurse’s advice
Tabitha Nana-Yaa Agyare, a nurse at the Integrated School Resource Health Centre at Nungua affirmed that the rate at which parents have been terminating pregnancies for their pupils is grave and must be stopped immediately.
According to her, despite offering counseling for these parents for their girls to deliver, they end up terminating it for them illegally.
“We detected that one of the pupils was pregnant. When we asked her when she last had her menstruation, she could not tell, so we took her to a midwife for a test and she tested positive.
“We invited the parents and informed them, but the father, Otoo Laryea, said his daughter had already aborted a pregnancy so she could not be pregnant again. On the following day, he came to tell us that, his wife had taken her to hospital and the child was not pregnant. When we called the child and took her back to our midwife who conducted the test on her, it was realized that the pregnancy was aborted,” she said this to buttress her point.
Ms. Agyare told the paper that between July and October, four pupils have all tested positive and advised that because the children are sexually active, they should be taught to practice “safe sex.”
She urged parents to seek expert’s advice before terminating pregnancy for their children. The nurse told the paper that, the pupils from her interaction with them engage in sex as early as nine years.
“The children are sexually active and some are sexually abused at every tender age, like nine years, so what I will urge is that since they are sexually active, they should practice safe sex. They should be educated on the use of condoms and sex education to prevent Sexually Transmitted Diseases. She called on those who sexually abuse them to be brought to book.
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