The Economic Cost of Unsafe Abortion: a Study of Post-abortion Care Patients in Uganda

Despite the high unmet demand for contraceptives in Uganda, use of modern methods in the country remains low, with no sign of it increasing to meet this demand (Uganda Bureau of Statistics 2007). The resulting wide gap between wanted and actual fertility leaves a large number of Ugandan women to resort to abortions in order to meet their fertility goals, despite the fact that abortion is highly legally restricted. A study found that the abortion rate in Uganda is among the highest in the world, rivaling those of Eastern European countries: 54 abortions per 1000 women age 15-49 (Singh et al. 2005). Yet abortion is permitted in the country only to save a woman’s life. As in other settings in which access to legal abortion is low, most women must resort to clandestine abortions, most of which are performed under dangerous conditions.