posted
Egypt is one of the country`s where abortion still is illegal. Birth-prevention is available, however, unmarried women are supposed to abstain sex, men are supposed to follow religion in this too. Of course this doesn`t happen, so abortions are excisting in illegal circuits. Usual the man en the woman are supposed to marry each other for a short period, but that isn`t always possible. An escape is an abortion.
Worldwide annual five million women must be incorporated in a hospital as a result of complications after a failure. That according to a study from the British medical illustrated magazine The Lancet. It`s reported in its youngest expenditure, which appears Saturday. The Lancet concludes that every year nineteen millions failures take place under unhygienic circumstances, frequently also without sufficiently qualified medical staff is present. As a result, annual 68,000 women die. The booklet is based on figures of the world health organisation WHO. Of the women who arrive in the hospital, the majority comes from Africa, Asia, South-America or the Carribean . According to the research workers preventing complications is better accessible by birth-prevention and by good circumstances after failures. In Africa 15 to 19 from every 1.000 treated women aged between 15 to 49, have to become treatment of complications from induced abortions.
So, it`s needed to make changements in the laws and the common opinion about abortion and sex without marriage.
posted
It's my understanding that there is still a stigma against preventive contraception like the birth control pill in Egypt. Even (especially) among married women. Wouldn't it be best to try and educate people first about contraception and make various forms of contraception widely available first?
I'd rather see resources used proactively so that abortion never has to be an option.
Posts: 8794 | From: 01-20-09 The End of an Error | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
There are project about this, financed by EU. Education has to be given on high-schools. You can`t imagine how low the knowledge about this kind of subjects is. Parents hardly tell them anything, they`re not used to talk about this subjects...
-------------------- “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.” Posts: 7202 | From: EU | Registered: Nov 2006
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posted
Every pharmacy you go into has condoms readily available and in sight, easy just to pick them up and hand them to the cashier
Posts: 167 | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Left.Side.Lying.State.Of.Mind: It's my understanding that there is still a stigma against preventive contraception like the birth control pill in Egypt. Even (especially) among married women. Wouldn't it be best to try and educate people first about contraception and make various forms of contraception widely available first?
I'd rather see resources used proactively so that abortion never has to be an option.
Egypt has to 90% Muslims and they live after the Shari'ah. In Islam marriage is firstly seen as a union to procreate, children are seen as a blessing.
Kind of difficult to break through these kind of boundries.
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Actuallly, family planning has been very succesful in Egypt. I can't remember the exact statistic but the fertility rate has halved in the last 30 years or so. It's now 3.something.
Posts: 1039 | From: Cairo | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
And don't forget in the rural areas many people are illiterate. The major concern is that these kind of contraceptives are not properly used if offered.
And regarding condoms, they supposed to protect against STD's and pregnancy but many times they are failing because of quality issues or not accurate use.
My Egyptian roommate flew off to Holland years ago to had an abortion. Her child - if delivered - would have been only three months younger then my oldest.
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Run Date: 04/12/04 By Christopher Walker WeNews correspondent
Women seek abortions throughout Egypt, even though religious and civil law bars the procedures. Some 35 percent are done without any medical supervision.
CAIRO (WOMENSENEWS)--Abortion is illegal here and barred by religious authorities. Nevertheless, pregnant women, often at great personal risk, regularly find a way to end unwanted pregnancies.
Ahlam is one such woman.
"It was the worst news of my life," says Ahlam, her eyes filling with tears. "I didn't want to do it. I knew it was forbidden by God."
But her doctor said Ahlam (not her real name) and the fetus were infected with toxoplasmosis, a relatively common disease transmitted by house cats or through under-cooked meat. In Ahlam's case, tests of her amniotic fluid showed that the disease crossed the placenta wall and infected the fetus, drastically increasing the chance of birth defects and blindness.
With only three months left in her pregnancy, Ahlam had an abortion.
Women like Ahlam make the choice despite the strong condemnations from local religious leaders. For example, Al-Azhar mosque, Egypt's foremost religious authority, issued a fatwa in January that says that "it is impermissible for the mother to induce abortion if it is proven that the fetus is deformed or suffers from mental retardation . . . It is not a justifiable excuse."
The fatwa only adds to the already existing religious doctrine, supported by Egyptian law, that forbids abortion unless the mother's life is in imminent danger.
The illegality of abortion in Egypt is a relatively recent phenomenon, however. According to the authors of "Planning the Family in Egypt," medieval Muslim texts contain “descriptions of female contraceptive methods and abortificants,” suggesting that the practices were once widespread. In addition, there was popular acceptance of abortion in Egyptian society until it was outlawed by Muhammad Ali in the 1830s, reportedly to increase the male population available for his armies.
Current religious rulings and civil law have not stopped abortions in Egypt, however. They have only made them increasingly unsafe.
As governments in North America and Europe clarify their positions on abortion through legislation, scholars of religious law in Egypt have likewise sought rulings that make clear the conditions under which an abortion is permissible under Egypt's Islam.
Most Middle Eastern countries expressly forbid abortion unless the life of the mother is in imminent danger. Tunisia, however, is the exception to the rule and permits abortions on request.
Adding a sense of urgency to the discussions, advances in pre-natal care have made unsafe pregnancies and fetal abnormalities easier to detect. To meet the need, many foreign-trained Egyptian gynecologists now offer abortions in private clinics. However, these relatively safe procedures are not available to most women.
Attempts to reduce the rate of abortion in Egypt or make it safer for women, routinely run up against religious, cultural and sexual barriers.
While there are no exact numbers, there is no question, that abortion rates in Egypt are high. A 1996 study of 1,300 Egyptian women by the Cairo Demographic Center found that one-third had tried to terminate a pregnancy. This is slightly lower than in the United States, where about 40 percent of women have had an abortion at some point in their lives.
A 1998 study by Egyptian researchers and published by the New York-based Population Council extrapolated from the rate of post-abortion treatment in Egyptian public hospitals to find the overall abortion rate. After studying over 22,000 admissions to hospital gynecology departments, researchers found that out of every 100 pregnancies, 15 were ended by induced abortion.
About 35 percent of abortions in Egypt are done without any medical supervision, according to the Population Council study.
Prices and Hygiene Vary Dramatically A physician who performs an abortion here faces three years in prison. For many doctors, however, the financial gains of performing abortions outweigh the legal and moral risks. A professional and safe medical abortion costs about LE3,000 or about $460 in a private clinic in Egypt.
Ahlam was lucky. Her abortion was done by a doctor under sanitary conditions.
Of course, most women can't afford such a hefty price tag. As a result, most abortions in Egypt are done at home without medical supervision. The average annual income in Egypt is about LE26,000 ($4,000). And the World Bank reports that about 17 percent of families live on less than $2 per day. In addition, husbands often demand a strict accounting of how their wives spend money.
For between LE500 and LE1,000, ($150) doctors or midwives will perform abortions in less than sanitary conditions and with unsophisticated equipment.
Many women try to end their pregnancies by taking overdoses of aspirin or quinine, risking their own lives, as well as harm to the fetuses. Others take herbal douches, including concoctions of mashed onion leaves or moulikhiya, a local plant similar to spinach. They also use cotton stalks, palm fronds or goose feathers soaked in gasoline to dislodge the fetus from the uterine wall.
Only education about contraceptives and reproductive health can reduce these practices and overall abortion rates, says Iman Bibars, the head of the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women. The association is a nongovernmental organization which conducts health awareness programs for some of Egypt's poorest women.
Bibars adds that women occupy "a traditionally neglected and disempowered segment of Egyptian society," despite their important role within families.
Breaking through the religious and cultural barriers is not easy, however.
"Virginity belongs to the family," she says, not to the woman. "The key question is 'who controls a woman's body?'"
Islam here is founded on the belief that the human body belongs to God and, according to Egyptian tradition, a woman belongs to her father before marriage and her husband after marriage.
"It is this sense of family honor, which comes from our blend of Islam and Arab and African culture that prevents women from understanding their own bodies," says Bibars.
"The problems we have with abortion, the problems with promoting contraception and women's health, these are all symptoms of this obsession with honor. The only way for this to be settled is to have a transparent, open, public debate about what honor means and who ultimately controls a woman's body. Let's ask ourselves these questions," says Bibars.
She adds that when the association holds workshops on women's health, the resistance is fierce--and not only from the target communities. Some of the association's own staff refuse to attend such workshops if they revolve around gynecological health.
There are currently no groups in Egypt that deal specifically with abortion. Bibars says it is impossible for non-governmental organizations to take on the task. "You would be terrorized by everyone and probably shut down in the end."
Instead, groups like Bibars' focus on educating women about contraceptive methods as a way to reduce unwanted pregnancies. Contraceptives are widely available in Egypt, but many in rural areas don't use them properly.
"People say if we make it legal, it will be used as birth control," says Bibars. "But look--it already is and it will be forever."
posted
Transparancy, open and public in Egypt.., looks quite impossible to me.You can compare the situation with Europe 75 years ago, strictly values and religious rules, added with the modern communications like movies, internet etc. From one side everything is open and from the other side all is closed...
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posted
thats effed up. ever see what a 6 month old aborted fetus looks like? they stick a knife up there and chop it up while its still alive..or they send poison and slowly burn it to death. that baby could have been totally normal. however, even if it wasn't, that selfish ho should have just been a woman about it and dealt with having a 'special' child. my ex was born at 6 months and lived. then again, i hear from many that egyptian women are selfish like that...
these women need to learn that by sticking gas and stuff up there may not only kill the baby but causes them suffering as well. i mean hellooooooo! just because its not born yet doesnt mean it cant feel. apparently there is no sex ed over there either? and if they didnt have those stupid harsh laws as well, people wouldnt be so afraid to come forth and handle the situation if they get get knocked up. shoot, its no body's business, why is it that people are always in each other biz over there?
Posts: 229 | From: philadelphia, pa, usa | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
I though abortion was permmissible in Islam before the 3rd month when God blows life into it?
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tami, i really do agree with what you are saying, at 6 months it is totally to far to have an abortion, 3 months is, they had to do it sooner if they were going to do it, this baby could of had a chance, this really is wrong, this baby, is totally fully formed,
quote:Originally posted by annie_81: I though abortion was permmissible in Islam before the 3rd month when God blows life into it?
Yes, Annie, it is according to some schools of thought, but those who do say this usually say that it can only be done if there is a severe risk to the mother if the pregnancy continues. There are some scholars who say that this is a general permission before the soul is blown in, but this is a minority opinion, as far as I know.
Posts: 4576 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jun 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Left.Side.Lying.State.Of.Mind: It's my understanding that there is still a stigma against preventive contraception like the birth control pill in Egypt. Even (especially) among married women. Wouldn't it be best to try and educate people first about contraception and make various forms of contraception widely available first?
I'd rather see resources used proactively so that abortion never has to be an option.
Egypt has to 90% Muslims and they live after the Shari'ah. In Islam marriage is firstly seen as a union to procreate, children are seen as a blessing.
Kind of difficult to break through these kind of boundries.
I understand that, but it seems if a woman is willing to have an abortion, she probably would have been willing to learn about and use contraception as well.
Posts: 8794 | From: 01-20-09 The End of an Error | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
Ok, time for some stats from the UN Population Fund. Fertilty rate 1990: 4.8 - 2005: 3.29 Contraceptive Use 1990: 46.2% - 2005: 56.1%
Posts: 1039 | From: Cairo | Registered: Sep 2002
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