‘I chose to keep it secret:’ a qualitative study on the lived experience of women who underwent an abortion in Ethiopia

Le résumé fourni par la source

BACKGROUND: In Ethiopia, despite a decline in abortion-related mortality over the past decade, substantial challenges persist in ensuring universal safe abortion access. The lived experiences of women who underwent abortion are not well understood in Ethiopia. Thus, this study aimed to explore the lived experiences of women who underwent safe abortions in eastern Ethiopia. METHODS: The study was conducted in Harari Region and Dire Dawa admiration using a descriptive phenomenological approach among 14 purposively selected women from Public health facilities. Data was collected through In-depth interviews using an interview guide. Verbatim transcription and translation of the recorded interviews were done. Finally, thematic analysis was conducted using Open Code 4.03 software. RESULTS: Five major themes were emerged after analysis. Facilitators of abortion, Barriers to accessing safe abortion services, the need to keep abortion secret, religious perspectives, and Beliefs regarding the health impacts of abortion were the identified major themes. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals that women seek abortion for various reasons and experience many challenges after abortion, but most of these reasons are not supported by Ethiopian's current abortion law. As a result, they encounter numerous obstacles when trying to obtain safe abortion services.

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