Jon Afrizal, Jambi – Abortion among women in Jambi City has become so prevalent that from 2011 to 2013, 40 percent of unwanted pregnancies ended in abortion.
The city's shocking abortion figure could well be only the tip of the iceberg as illegal abortions are widely available in Jambi – Unwanted pregnancy appears to be the main reason for women opting for an abortion.
The abortions take place in unregistered abortion clinics across the municipality. However many women choose to take traditional herbal medicines to abort their pregnancies.
Director of the Jambi City branch of the Indonesian Family Planning Association (PKBI), Helfi Rahmawati, said several women had consulted their association about their unwanted pregnancies.
"They discussed with us whether they should continue with their pregnancies," she said, adding that 40 percent of unwanted pregnancies ended in abortion, a procedure deemed illegal under Indonesian law other than for certain medical reasons.
To curb the illegal practice, Helfi said the PKBI in cooperation with Sikok, an NGO on sexual and reproductive health and rights, provided counseling for women with unwanted pregnancies.
"We give them counseling and education on what they should do with their pregnancies," she said.
Director of Sikok, Suminah, said some of the patients who discussed their unwanted pregnancies with the organization were quite young.
Citing 2011 data, she said four patients seeking consultations about their unwanted pregnancies were aged in between 15 to 19 years old; followed by three patients aged 20-24 years and 10 clients aged 25-29 years old.
Data showed that ten patients seeking consultation from the NGO between 2011 and 2012 were unmarried. Law No.36/2009 on Health stipulates that abortion is illegal unless for particular medical reasons or the women's psychological condition.
"But if they insist on having an abortion, we should still refer them to a safe abortion service instead of letting them ask for unsafe abortion services in illegal clinics or taking unsafe medication which may pose risks to their reproductive health," Suminah said. (ebf)