More open dialogue needed on safe and legal abortions
THERE is a need for more effective and open dialogue to ensure Malaysian women have the best reproductive care.
“Access to safe and legal abortion care is an important part of comprehensive reproductive healthcare for women.
“Such is required to address the social issue of baby dumping and unplanned teenage pregnancies,” says Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society of Malaysia president Dr Harris Njoo Suharjono.
Hence, more effective and open dialogue among all stakeholders should be held to ensure Malaysian women of all reproductive ages have the highest level of reproductive care.
It will also put an end to unsafe abortions, he says.
Currently, there are no official statistics on the total number of abortions in Malaysia.
“But the latest global statistics show that 64 out of every 1,000 women in the reproductive age group have unintended pregnancies.
“Some 61% of those unplanned pregnancies ended in abortion,” Dr Harris notes.
He adds that on average, there are about 18,000 teenage pregnancies seen in government health clinics yearly, with about 25% being among unmarried teens.
“As such, there is a need to continue advocating for planned pregnancies with greater public awareness.
“Myths and misinformation about contraception should be tackled.
“We should strive towards reducing the stigma towards reproductive healthcare among the public and healthcare providers,” Dr Harris urges.
Communities in Malaysia should also work together with stakeholders, he says.
“We should create an environment that allows any woman or girl to access comprehensive reproductive care free of stigma, discrimination or stereotyping to allow them to be able to achieve their full potential,” Dr Harris adds.
The need to solve the issue of unwanted pregnancies led some to turn to the Internet to buy abortion pills, including Misoprostol and Mifepristone.
In December last year, Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the products are not registered in Malaysia and are often misused for abortion.
“The usage of such pills without supervision from a registered medical practitioner can cause implications such as uterine rupture and even death if untreated,” he said in his statement.
Dr Harris stresses that under no circumstance should abortion pills be self-administered without the supervision of a registered medical practitioner.
But he points out that Mifepristone and Misoprostol are the two abortion pills recommended by the World Health Organisation for legally permissible abortions to minimise potential complications.
“The availability of these pills would facilitate more effective and safer legally permissible abortions in a health facility under the supervision of a registered medical practitioner.
“Currently, both these abortion pills are not made available in Malaysia,” Dr Harris says.
He warns the public against buying the pills online as they might not be sold by a trained medical professional or may even be fake.