Information, Resources, and Techniques for Managing Abortion and Birth: Information about 

abortion and the methods used to terminate a pregnancy was readily available to participants 

from networks of friends. There is some controversy about whether clinic or herbal abortions are 

preferable, although the majority of girls used clinics for their abortion.  In general, it is 

understood that too many abortions could be dangerous and could affect a girl's future fertility. 

Although most girls, whether or not they had had an abortion, said that abortion was morally 

wrong, they all cited practical reasons why it is acceptable for a girl to have an abortion. Their 

reasons included if the girl did not have the means to care for the child, or parents to help, or if 

there was no father, or if the girl was in school. The word for abortion in the various languages 

spoken by the girls connotes murder or spilling blood, while the word for miscarriage connotes a 

natural process. 

Participants used clinics and hospitals most often for their abortion.  Of the successful abortions, 

23 were clinic abortions and 5 were herbal. The girls were usually accompanied to the procedure 

by a friend, and less often by a female relative or a boyfriend. Their boyfriends usually paid the 

clinic abortion costs, which ranged from 30,000 cedis to 300,000 cedis with an average cost of 

90,000 to100,000 cedis. Girls whose boyfriend/husband did not acknowledge the pregnancy and 

girls who obtained abortions against their boyfriend wishes paid for the procedure themselves 

using their own money, money they got from parents, money they borrowed from friends, or 

combinations of these. A clinic abortion was sometimes preceded by a failed attempt to 

terminate the pregnancy using home remedies, pharmaceuticals, or herbs bought in the market. 

In the experience of these participants, the vaginally inserted form of Aatsoo seemed to be an 

effective abortofacient with few side effects when used early in pregnancy. Usually, the cost was 

less than 10,000 cedis. The participants in this study experienced few complications from their 

clinic or herbal abortions. There was little postabortion counseling following clinic abortions.  

Conclusions 

These findings run counter to the assumption that most unmarried adolescent girls who get 

pregnant generally have multiple sexual partners, are casual about sex, or exchange sex for 

money out of necessity. In this study, force and deception by boyfriends and other males play a 

major role in girls initiating sex before they want to. These relationships often continued and thus 

it seems that date rape may be accepted in this community. Although the  deprivation leading to 

exchange of sex for gifts and money  dynamic does not fit well with the experiences described 

by these girls, it may apply to other groups, such as street youth. In addition, it suggests that the 

 sugar daddy  phenomenon, as described by Dinan (1983) and others, may be more common in 

Accra among girls with middle socioeconomic backgrounds than those with lower socio 

economic backgrounds or among girls living in other locales, such as Kumasi (1983). 

Although girls did make efforts to practice birth control, the methods they used were ineffective 

and led them to have repeated unintended pregnancies during their teens and beyond. Girls' 

awareness of their menstrual cycle, however, generally led to early knowledge of the pregnancy 

once it occurred. This allowed them time to negotiate with their boyfriend, parents, and others 

about how to handle the pregnancy, and to seek information about abortion services from friends 

and others if necessary, and still have time for a first trimester abortion.  

xi