Determinants of Abortions in Rural Ghana

Introduction An abortion is the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. Abortion can occur spontaneously or can be induced. A spontaneous abortion is usually referred to as miscarriage. Hospital based studies conducted in most African countries have shown that abortion leads to about 50% of maternal deaths in Africa. In addition, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest death rate from induced abortion 3 and unless concerted effort is made to reduce abortion many countries in sub-Saharan Africa can not achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 of reducing maternal mortality by half by the year 2015. Hence there is the need to investigate factors that determine abortion to inform appropriate intervention strategies.