Abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

is illegal in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

under most situations, but menstrual regulation is often used as a substitute.

is still governed by the penal code from 1860, where induced abortion is illegal unless the woman is in danger. Historically,

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

has been prevalent, especially during the years following the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

. For example, in 1972, the law allowed for abortion for those women who has been raped during the war. In 1976, the Bangladesh National Population Policy unsuccessfully attempted to legalize abortion in the

first trimester Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ca ...

. Since 1979, menstrual regulation has been the favored alternative to induced abortion, and it is legally permitted because pregnancy cannot be established. In 2012, the Drug Administration for Bangladesh legalised the combination of

mifepristone Mifepristone, also known as RU-486, is a medication typically used in combination with misoprostol to bring about a medical abortion during pregnancy and manage early miscarriage. This combination is 97% effective during the first 63 days of p ...

and

misoprostol Misoprostol is a synthetic prostaglandin medication used to prevent and treat stomach and duodenal ulcers, induce labor, cause an abortion, and treat postpartum bleeding due to poor contraction of the uterus. Misoprostol is taken by mouth wh ...

for medical abortion.

Menstrual regulation

Part of the family planning program in Bangladesh since 1979, menstrual regulation is a procedure that uses manual vacuum aspiration to make it impossible to be pregnant after missing a

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

. It is simple and can be done with inexpensive equipment. The procedure also is performed without the use of

anaesthesia Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), am ...

. A study about menstrual regulation in 2013 studied 651 consenting women from 10 different facilities in Bangladesh, who were seeking menstrual regulation and were about 63 days or less late of their menstrual cycle. They were given about 200 mg of

, followed later by 800 mg of

. The researchers found that 93% of the women had evacuated the uterus without the use of the surgical intervention, and 92% of the women were satisfied with the pills and the rest of the treatment. Although menstrual regulation centers are centralized and free of charge, many women still lack access due to socioeconomic barriers and social stigma. Centers charge additional fees if the pregnancy is beyond 10 weeks, and many women are unaware of menstrual regulation or face male opposition to the procedure. As a result, some women turn to illegal abortions.

Abortion

An abortion can be legally performed by a physician in a hospital, if it is necessary to save the life of the mother. A person who performs an abortion under any other circumstances, including a woman who self-aborts, can be punished by a fine and imprisonment. Menstrual regulation allows a woman to terminate within 10 weeks of her last period, but unsafe methods to terminate pregnancy are widespread. In response, a hotline was created for women to get information about fertility control, including menstrual regulation. According to an article by the

Guttmacher Institute The Guttmacher Institute is a research and policy NGO that aims to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. This research organization was started in 1968 and works to study, educate, and advance sexual and reproductive health ...

, which studied the rural sub-district of

Matlab MATLAB (an abbreviation of "MATrix LABoratory") is a proprietary multi-paradigm programming language and numeric computing environment developed by MathWorks. MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation ...

, illegal abortion is becoming increasingly prevalent despite the availability of safer methods of fertility control. A study by Mizanur Rahman and Julie DaVanzo showed that between 2000 and 2008, a woman was more likely to die from the complications of unsafe abortion than from childbirth itself, and that death rates from childbirth were similar of the death rates for the complications of menstrual regulation. Another study in Matlab found that between 1982 and 1998, abortion about 35 times more prevalent among unmarried adolescent girls than among married adolescent girls, and it was much higher among who were less than 18 years of age and those who passed or had more than primary education.

Statistics

, the national rate that women participate in menstrual regulation as a post-contraceptive way to control their fertility was 10 per 1,000 women aged 15–49. The national rate for induced abortion was 29 per 1,000 women in the same age interval. The United Nations estimated that in 2000, the abortion rate was 4.0 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44. Only 42% of facilities that were expected to provide menstrual regulation services actually did so. Of the Union Health and Family Welfare Centres, which are especially relied upon in rural areas, half provided these services. According to Guttmacher, about 27% of women (about 105,000) are turned away annually. In addition, in 2014, about 50% of married Bangladeshi women had not heard of menstrual regulation. In 2014, it was estimated that between 523,808 and 769,269 abortions occurred per year in Bangladesh.

References

{{Bangladesh topics

Healthcare in Bangladesh Law of Bangladesh

Women's rights in Bangladesh