Illegal abortion among teenage girls is on the
increase in the Ahafo-Ano North District of the Ashanti Region. Health
authorities recorded 403 cases in 2009, 491 in 2010 and 497 in 2011, making a
total of 1,391.
The District Director of Health, Mrs Belinda Baffoe
Bonnie, made this known at a community durbar on unsafe abortion and teenage
pregnancies at Dwaaho, near Tepa.
IPAS Ghana, a non-governmental organisation based
in Accra, organised the durbar.
Mrs Baffoe-Bonnie appealed to traditional rulers,
especially queens, to educate young girls on the dangers of unsafe abortion
since chiefs wield enormous influence on the lives of their people.
She asked children to stay away from premature sex
and take their education seriously.
The District IPAS Co-ordinator, Nana Yaa Boatemaa,
called on parents to invest in the education of their children instead of using
their little resources on unprofitable ventures.
She expressed concern about the way some women
spend huge monies to purchase expensive clothing when the school fees of their
children were in arrears.
The National IPAS Co-ordinator, Mr S.K. Azumah,
said the organisation was against early sex because that usually led to
abortions.
He stated that many girls who would have become
useful citizens of the land had lost their lives through unsafe abortions.
The District Girl-child Education Co-ordinator,
Madam Patricia Addo, urged young girls to avoid baits men used to obtain sex.
The Chief of Dwaaho, Nana Owusu Afriyie, who
chaired the function, commended the organisation for supporting educational
programmes and asked schoolchildren, especially females, to study very hard in
school and take good care of themselves.
Source: Daily Graphic
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