School of Medicine, Health & Life Sciences

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Browsing School of Medicine, Health & Life Sciences by Author "Faisal Sophia Suleiman"

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    Analysis Of Issues Associated With Legalizing Induced Abortion Among Women Of Reproductive Age In Uganda: A Situational Analysis Among Doctors, Lawyers And University Medical Students.
    (IKSAD Publishing House, 2022-12-22) Faisal Sophia Suleiman; Amos Ronald Kalukusu
    Abstract This study investigated issues associated with legalizing induced abortion among women of reproductive age in Uganda. Due to the restrictive abortion laws in Uganda, women opt for clandestine abortions which are usually unsafe leading to several complications including death. The target population for the study was 200 among whom it selected 131 respondents who included 36 doctors, 80 medical students, and 15 lawyers. The doctors were selected purposively, the medical students were selected using a random sampling technique while a snowball sampling technique was used to arrive at the 15 lawyers for the study. The specific objectives of the study were: (a) to determine the level of awareness of doctors, medical students, and lawyers on the current laws and policies on induced abortion among women of reproductive age in Uganda. (b) to investigate the insight of doctors, medical students, and lawyers on the advantages of legalizing induced abortion among women of reproductive age in Uganda and (c) to evaluate the insight of doctors, medical students, and lawyers on the barriers to legalizing induced abortion among women of reproductive age in Uganda. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and then entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20, and the results were represented in both tabular and graphical forms. The study found that there was a significant gap in the knowledge of the laws and policies on abortion in Uganda among doctors, medical students, and lawyers (Sig=0.000, P-value < 0.05). Legalizing induced abortion was viewed to have the advantage of reducing maternal mortality by 59% of the variance while it was further viewed to reduce abortion complications by 15% of the variance. The most significant barrier to legalizing induced abortion in Uganda comes from religious organizations that contribute 49% of the variance. Additionally, few policymakers can articulate publicly in favor of the liberal abortion laws as this contributed 22% of the variance. In terms of implementation of the abortion laws in Uganda, 41% of the variance is a result of the laws being too complicated, accompanied by a failure to inform the public, the health workers, and government officials on the interpretation of the abortion laws (24.1% of the variance). The insights of the doctors and medical students towards legalizing induced abortion in Uganda predicted an 80.5% of variance in terms of their willingness to perform an induced abortion, while it predicted a 65.9% variance towards launching a constitutional challenge by the lawyers. It was concluded that there is a significant gap in the knowledge of doctors, medical students, and lawyers on the current laws and policies on induced abortion and the study recommended that Uganda’s abortion laws and policies should be clarified to improve on the level of awareness among the citizenry. Keywords: Induced Abortion, legalizing Induced Abortion, Abortion Laws & Policies, Maternal Mortality.