Friday, November 03, 2006

Unsafe abortion threatens Cambodian women: report

November 03, 2006

Over 70 percent of rural Cambodian women lack any understanding of effective contraceptive methods or safe abortion and each year 32,000 women nationwide need treatment after botched abortions, bi-monthly newspaper Phnom Penh Post reported on Friday.

Compounding the problem, in 2005 health centers turned away 24, 000 women seeking legal first-trimester abortions, thus driving most women to try to terminate unwanted pregnancies by themselves, the paper quoted Chamreun Sosivann, Clinic Manager of Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia at Siem Reap Province, as saying.

"They try to induce an abortion by using pills rather than coming to a clinic. This is very dangerous -- and many of these women also don't know how to prevent pregnancy, for example, by using birth control pills," she said.

In fact, safe abortion services are not readily available in Cambodia, said Tung Rathavy, deputy director of the National Maternal and Child Health Center (NMCHC) and National Reproductive Health Program Manager.

"Only 47 percent of public hospitals and about 15 percent of health centers offer any kind of abortion services. We still lack health centers, medicines and qualified staff, even though the number of women seeking abortions is increasing every year," she said.

Maternal health has been made a priority in health sector but despite the government's efforts, results are lagging, said the paper.

However, efforts are made to improve the situation.

In December last year, the U.K. Department for International Development signed a 2.9 million U.S. dollar agreement with Ministry of Health to improve women's health and their access to lawful abortion. A further 725,000 U.S. dollars will be used to provide women with maternal health services.

According to a law adopted by the Cambodian government in 1997, first-trimester abortion is made more widely available and second- trimester abortion available if necessary in case of rape, fetal abnormality, or if full-term pregnancy might pose a risk to mother 's life.

Source: Xinhua

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Come on People,

A very simple and common sense method of preventing a pregnancies. Just don't shoot your load inside her. when you fucking reach that climax.. withdraw and let it shoot out. You can still enjoy sex and fuck more often. Ladies wake up and if he doesn't want to withdraw to ejack. Tell him to get the Hell out of your life.

Anonymous said...

10:02 commentator. Mr. Jame Doe, Is this a good and appropriate response?
Life in Cambodia is unsafe at any aspect. Ralph Nader used to say this car is unsafe at any speed.

Anonymous said...

Cambodian people is too poor to afford anything to make their life just a little better! I say why have sex at all until ready to start a family!

Cambodian women are being used for sexual object and they need to know that they are the one who is pregnant!

pyralis said...

Sometimes "common sense" is not so very common. Khmer women "supposedly" possess equals rights, but in reality we know they are underrepresented and treated as second class citizens. The only way these women will realize the value of their lives and the meaning of individualism is if they are taught and given the proper education and support. It's so easy for people to judge and pass judgment.

Imagine living your life in a box and that is the only life you will ever know. Think about it long and hard. The only way they can escape this kind of mindset is if they given opportunities to more options through education.