The Interface between Abortion Practice and Community Response in Woldia Town, North Wollo Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia, 2017: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract Background : The issue of abortion is as old as human existence. People since the distant past to the present day have used it as a fertility control. It is a universal and global phenomenon, which can be influenced by the existing competing socio-cultural discourses. These discourses, in turn, had a profound effect on women’s abortion experiences (reason, intentions, and decision making process) and on the negative attitude of the community towards abortion, particularly in patriarchal societies. Objective : To examine the interface between the lived experience of women and attitudes of the community towards abortion in Woldia Town, North Wollo Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia, 2017. Methods : This study employed a mixed approach: quantitative (household survey) and qualitative (FGDs, in-depth and key informant interviews and case studies) to collect relevant data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data. The qualitative data was analyzed thematically and presented together with quantitative. Findings : numerous contextual and structural level factors were the impediments of the practice of safe abortion in general and the lived experience of women having induced abortions and the attitude of the larger community towards abortion in particular. The constraining nature of such factors was more evident in practicing abortion than its enabling factor upon the lives of women practicing induced abortion. Conclusion : This study claims that structural factors (religion, morality, medico-legal discourses, and gender roles) influenced the smooth functioning of safe abortion, women’ reproductive rights and lived experiences on the one hand and attitude of the community towards abortion on the other. As a result, the abortion experience of women is the result of both agency and structural level factors. Similarly, the negative attitude of the community towards abortion stigmatized women in practicing induced abortion. The findings of this study proposed policy implications both at the agency and structural levels in addressing the prevailing problems associated with societal stigma, health complications, and psychological distress of women practicing abortion.