The illegal facilities, both situated in a densely populated slum, along the Peleele Stream in the Asokore Mampong Municipality, were found to be operating without regulatory approval, raising grave public health and safety concerns.

The two illicit health facilities were discovered by the Asokore Mampong Municipal Security Council in a swoop led by the Municipal Chief Executive on Wednesday July 9, 2025.

It is part of efforts to combat drug abuse and related criminal activities in the municipality, reported to be a hot spot for illegal drug activities.

The MCE, Ben Abdallah Alhassan, noted that the development is alarming and underscores the urgent need for stricter enforcement and community sensitization.

“This is a serious health threat to our youth and community. There is a lot of illicit use of drugs among the youth over there, endangering the environment through the poor sanitation in the enclave,” he said.

He further disclosed that some drugs from the facilities have been seized for further investigations.

The Chief emphasised that abortion is considered a grave sacrilege in Anlo land, attracting both cultural and spiritual repercussions.

During an interview with Joy News, Torgbui Dasebre Kadzehlo IV spoke passionately about the sanctity of life and the deep-seated cultural values that the Anlo people hold dear. He reiterated that the practice of abortion not only defies the community’s moral and ethical standards but also attracts severe penalties from traditional leaders.

“Abortion is not just a medical issue; it is a violation of our sacred traditions and customs,” Torgbui Dasebre Kadzehlo VI stated. “In Anlo land, every life is precious and must be protected. Engaging in such acts dishonours our community and disrupts the harmony we strive to maintain.”

The Paramount Chief’s pronouncement comes amid growing concerns about the rise in abortion cases among young girls in the region.

He stressed that traditional leaders would take stringent measures to address this issue, ensuring that anyone caught engaging in or aiding abortion would face the full weight of customary laws.

“Our traditions are clear on this matter. Those who flout these customs will be dealt with accordingly. We must uphold the values that have been passed down through generations and protect the sanctity of life,” Torgbui Dasebre Kadzehlo noted.

The Chief also called on parents, educators, and community leaders to play a proactive role in educating young people about the importance of adhering to cultural norms and the potential consequences of their actions. He called for increased awareness and counselling to guide the youth in making informed and responsible decisions.

In response to the Chief’s declaration, community members expressed mixed reactions. While some lauded the move as necessary to preserve cultural integrity, others called for a more compassionate approach that considers the complex socio-economic factors leading to abortions.

As the community grapples with this sensitive issue, the Paramount Chief’s message underscores the importance of respecting cultural heritage and the collective responsibility of safeguarding the values that define the Anlo society.

The traditional leadership’s firm stance serves as a reminder of the enduring significance of customs in shaping the moral fabric of the community.

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Parliamentarians voted to revise the country’s 1958 constitution to enshrine women’s “guaranteed freedom” to abort.

The overwhelming 780-72 vote saw a standing ovation in the parliament in Versailles when the result was announced.

President Emmanuel Macron described the move as “French pride” that had sent a “universal message”.

However anti-abortion groups have strongly criticised the change, as has the Vatican.

Abortion has been legal in France since 1975, but polls show around 85% of the public supported amending the constitution to protect the right to end a pregnancy.

And while several other countries include reproductive rights in their constitutions – France is the first to explicitly state that an abortion will be guaranteed.

It becomes the 25th amendment to modern France’s founding document, and the first since 2008.

Following the vote, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was lit up in celebration, with the message: “My Body My Choice”.

Before the vote, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told parliament that the right to abortion remained “in danger” and “at the mercy of decision makers”.

“We’re sending a message to all women: your body belongs to you and no one can decide for you,” he added.

While resistance from right-wingers in parliament failed to materialise, President Macron has been accused of using the constitution for electoral ends.

Critics say the revision is not necessarily wrong in itself, but unnecessary, and accused the president of trying to use the cause to boost his left-wing credentials.

Since 1975 the law has been updated nine times – and on each occasion with the aim of extending access.

France’s constitutional council – the body that decides on the constitutionality of laws – has never raised a query.

In a 2001 ruling, the council based its approval of abortion on the notion of liberty enshrined in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, which is technically part of the constitution.

So many jurists say abortion was already a constitutional right.

The constitutional change was prompted by recent developments in the US, where the right to abortion was removed by the Supreme Court in 2022. Individual states are now able to ban the procedure again, ending the right to an abortion for millions of women.

The move to enshrine abortion in the French constitution has been welcomed by many.

“This right (to abortion) has retreated in the United States. And so nothing authorised us to think that France was exempt from this risk,” said Laura Slimani, from the Fondation des Femmes rights group.

“There’s a lot of emotion, as a feminist activist, also as a woman,” she said.

But not all support it, with the Vatican repeating its opposition to abortion.

“There can be no ‘right’ to take a human life,” the Vatican institution said in a statement, echoing concerns already raised by French Catholic bishops.

It appealed to “all governments and all religious traditions to do their best so that, in this phase of history, the protection of life becomes an absolute priority”.

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The proposal, approved earlier by the lower house, the National Assembly, was backed by 267 votes to 50 on Wednesday.

Abortion has been legal in France since 1974 but pressure has grown to further cement it in law.

There is concern that the right to termination is being eroded in ally nations like the US and Poland.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called a special, repeat vote on Monday involving both houses meeting together away from Paris in the suburb of Versailles.

If the joint session approves the constitutional amendment with a majority of at least three-fifths, there will be no need to put it to a referendum.

An Ifop opinion poll taken in November 2022, when the National Assembly was voting on the legislation, suggested 86% of people supported the amendment.

None of the country’s main political parties question the right to abortion but the language used in the amendment was revised after the 2022 vote, when the National Assembly endorsed the “right” to abortion.

Last month it voted again to back the “freedom” to have an abortion after Mr Macron’s government called for Article 34 of the constitution to be amended to cite “the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed”.

This new wording on “guaranteed freedom” was approved by the Senate on Wednesday.

Posting on X, Mr Macron said he was committed to making women’s freedom to resort to termination “irreversible” by inscribing it in the constitution.

Reacting to the vote, Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti said his country was close to a “historic day” when it becomes “the first country in the world to protect in its constitution the freedom of women” to decide what happens to their bodies.

Speaking to AFP news agency, several conservative senators said they had felt under pressure to approve the amendment.

“If I vote against it, my daughters will no longer come for Christmas,” said one woman, who asked to remain anonymous.

Debate over abortion has raged in the US since the Supreme Court there rescinded the nationwide right to a termination in June 2022.

As of last month, 21 of the country’s 50 states have either total or partial abortion bans on the books, with some including harsh punishments for doctors and others who assist in accessing the procedure, including jail time, steep fines and the loss of medical licences.

Poland’s Constitutional Court imposed a near-total ban on abortion in that country in 2020. It is now permitted only in cases of rape or incest or when pregnancy threatens a mother’s health or life.

He was speaking in an exclusive interview with Emelia Naa Ayeley Aryee, a journalist and Director of Xoese Ghana, as part of Xoese Ghana’s flagship campaign of ending infertility stigma against women and couples.

The purpose of the interview was to delve deeper into the causes of infertility in both men and women, the treatments and interventions available, and what role stakeholders like the government can play in helping infertile women who are in dire need of children but their finances would just not allow them.

There’s a general perception out there that once a woman has an abortion, she automatically signs up for infertility.

However, there are also cases of some women who have had an abortion or even multiple abortions but are still able to have a child or children.

Between abortion and infertility

According to the astute medical practitioner with over 3 decades of experience in the field, an infection during the act of performing an abortion is what can cause infertility in the woman, not the abortion itself.

He explained that during an abortion, there could be a perforation of the womb which can adversely affect it so that it can even be distorted from its natural shape. Once this happens, the womb becomes incapable of accepting a fertilized egg or accommodating a growing baby.

A weak womb as a result of an abortion, he reiterated, would not carry a baby successfully and this could lead to miscarriages in the woman.

The same thing can happen to the fallopian tube which can cause damage or a blockage so that fertilization does not take place.

The fallopian tube, Dr. Henaku noted, is where a sperm swims to meet an egg, therefore, if there’s damage or a blockage, the process is hindered – the sperm is restricted and so there won’t be a conception no matter how hard the couple tries unless the issue has been resolved by an experienced doctor.

To this end, it is clear that abortion, if not done by the right medical professional, could have dire consequences, including infertility.

Dr. Henaku-Larbi added that inordinate and uncontrolled sexual activities leading to rampant abortions can increase their risk of infertility.

The doctor admitted that it would be hard to find a gynecology who has been practicing for years without having perforated the womb or fallopian tube.

It’s just like it’s said “hazards of the job” like in any field of work, he insinuated.

Does fibroid necessarily cause infertility?

Dr. Henaku-Larbi also touched on a common misconception that fibroids impede pregnancy.

He said that widely-held perception is not entirely true since there are women with forbids who have had children.

The role fibroids play, rather, is that the location of it in the reproductive system is what could be the hindrance.

“If you have the fibroid obstructing the passage to the fallopian tube, that’s what will cause infertility. If the fibroids find their way in the uterus where the growing fetus should be, there could be a miscarriage since the baby and fibroid would be struggling for a space,” he explained.

Please watch excerpts of Dr. Henaku-Larbi interview here:

Battling infertility stigma

Dr. Henaku believes that in the time and age of advancement and modern technology, there shouldn’t be anything such as infertility stigma.

What the women should do is to visit the hospital and seek help to have children. There are many methods available, he said.

“No woman should sit home and cry because they don’t have children. There are many means to have their children, such as through surrogacy or IVF,”. Dr. Henaku stressed.

Meanwhile, Xoese Ghana was in the news recently following its Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) Awareness Seminar.

The seminar was well attended by both males and females, with the majority of females battling PCOS and infertility.

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Speaking with Graphic Showbiz in a recent interview, the E Choke singer noted that a number of people have done abortions but publicly criticise those who are bold to tell their stories.

S3fa’s comments come in the wake of Yvonne Nelson’s confession of having an abortion years ago in her recently launched memoir, “I am Not Yvonne Nelson”.

 “Do you know the number of people who have done abortions in Ghana? The people criticising Yvonne Nelson have probably done worse things than her but they are here saying all sorts of things about her as if they are innocent,” she said.

Asked if she would ever disclose having an abortion considering that it is frowned upon in our part of the world, the curvaceous singer said it’s no big deal for her.

“If I am to write my memoir today and there is a portion where I have to include an abortion or anything personal about my life, I will not hesitate to add that part of my life story. Unless, I decide not to write a book but if I do, I will go all out with it including an abortion if I did that,” she said.

S3fa started her career as a singer performing with live bands at bars, pubs and events in Accra. In 2017, she was signed by Black Avenue Muzik after D-Black, the Chief Executive of the record label reached out to her via social media platform Instagram. She released her debut single Marry me featuring Jupiter the same year.

She also followed up with Shuga featuring musical duo DopeNation in May 2018.

 In November 2020, S3fa released her debut album Growth. The 12 tracked album featured the likes of EL, Camidoh, Fameye, Sista Afia, Wendy Shay, Bisa Kdei, Medikal and Nigerian singer Praiz.

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The story has sent a shockwave across the digital world after Yvonne Nelson confessed that she allegedly aborted a baby for the Highest rapper, Sarkodie circa 2010.

Having mixed feelings towards the matter, Shatta Wale in a sarcastic manner said he doesn’t believe Sarkodie actually had a short affair with Yvonne Nelson.

He explained that, the saint nature of Sarkodie’s brand doesn’t depict he could be involved in such an issue ever unlike his Shatta Movement brand that has been tagged for such gimmicks.

But shortly after registering his comments on the trending topic, actress and influencer Efia Odo asked Shatta Wale to keep mute.

According to her, Shatta Wale doesn’t have to voice out on the issue.

Shatta Wale wrote: “Please court rise, am about to win this matter for Sark. Let us pray,” he tweeted laughing but Efia Odo in a riposte said. “you dier don’t shut up.” she said.

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In the chapter of the book titled “Abortion,” Yvonne recounts the moment she found out she was pregnant, and the decisions she and Sarkodie made hereafter.

In the book which was launched on Sunday, June 18, 2023 at the Peduase Lodge, Yvonne narrates that she tried to terminate the pregnancy by taking a concoction from a friend.

“On an ordinary day, I would have laughed out loud and that would trigger a string of jolly conversations and jokes. But this was no laughing matter. It was a grim piece of information that was capable of turning my world upside down. I wasn’t the only one responsible for the situation, so I called the man whose potent seed had germinated in me. His name is Michael Owusu Addo, a renowned Ghanaian musician who is better known as Sarkodie,” she further states in the book.

According to the actress, “Sarkodie was a budding musician with the potential to become one of the biggest artistes in Ghana and beyond. At the time, however, the future looked uncertain and his way through the maze of life still appeared too foggy to predict. Success was not guaranteed. He was still living with his mother and was not ready to carry a burden while he was being carried by his mother.”

According to Yvonne, when she found out she was pregnant, she tried to abort it by herself, but it didn’t work.

On her second attempt at aborting the baby, Yvonne reveals it was Sarkodie himself who drove her to the hospital to get it done.

“Keeping the pregnancy was not an option. Undertaking another self-medication was also not an option. I agreed with Sarkodie that, this time, we had to do it in a hospital or health facility. Again, that friend of mine had a recommendation. It was a facility in Mamprobi, and the appointed day, Sarkodie drove me there with his manager and they left.

“I hoped and prayed that I will be lucky with this second attempt. The pain, again was intense and I bled profusely. I felt worse because Sarkodie left me to my fate. He did not call or check up on me to find out how the procedure had gone,” Yvonne narrated.

Sarkodie and the manager are yet to officially respond to the allegations.

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This figure is 10% lower than the 2021 figure of 8,465. For the years 2020, 2021 and 2022, the total number of abortions among teenage girls was 24,108. The average for the three years is 8,036 abortions among teenagers translating to 22 abortions per day and about an abortion every hour of the day.

Similar to other years, the Ashanti Region recorded the highest number of teenage abortions in 2022 with a total of 1,275. The region recorded 1,407 and 1,531 teenage abortions in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

The Eastern Region recorded the second highest figure of 1,106 while the Ahafo Region recorded the lowest number of teenage abortions with a total of 171 abortions in 2022.

Meanwhile, according to the World Health Organization, 55% of unintended pregnancies among adolescent girls aged 15-19 years end in abortions which are often unsafe in low and middle income countries.

Gershon Fuentes, 27, appeared in court in Columbus on Wednesday.

The unnamed girl’s plight has drawn international attention.

US President Joe Biden cited it at the White House as he slammed abortion restrictions, but sceptics had questioned if it was a hoax.

Millions of women and girls lost a longstanding constitutional right to abortion after a US Supreme Court decision in June.

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In a speech last Friday condemning that ruling, President Biden raised a report of the child’s case, angrily saying: “Imagine being that little girl!”

Hours after the Supreme Court decision, legislators in Ohio outlawed abortions after six weeks, with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

The child was six weeks and three days pregnant, according to the Indianapolis Star newspaper.

Referred by a child abuse doctor in Ohio, the girl visited a clinic in Indianapolis, Indiana, to undergo a medical abortion on 30 June.

Although efforts are under way to restrict abortion access in Ohio’s neighbouring state, the procedure still remains legal there.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, 26 US states have either severely restricted abortions or are expected to do so in the coming weeks and months.

According to prosecutors, the child may have been nine years old when she was attacked.

She told police she was pregnant because of Mr Fuentes, reports the IndyStar.

Police say the accused, who was arrested on Tuesday at a flat in Columbus, admitted raping the girl, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

A saliva sample from him was being checked against DNA from the abortion clinic in Indianapolis, according to local media.

Mr Fuentes is a Guatemalan national and is in the US illegally, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement source told Fox News. 

Citing the risk that Mr Fuentes could flee or further endanger the child, Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Cynthia Ebner remanded him in custody, setting bail at $2m (£1.7m).

He faces life in prison if convicted.

The case was first reported on 1 July with few details in the IndyStar. As other news outlets struggled to confirm the story, prominent conservatives began to question its veracity.

Among the sceptics was congressman Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, who had tweeted on Tuesday that the story was “another lie”.

As news of the court appearance emerged on Wednesday, Mr Jordan appeared to have quietly deleted that tweet.

A new one was posted in which the lawmaker called for the suspect to be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”.

Mr Biden has faced pressure from fellow Democrats to respond with bolder action after a recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v Wade.

It paved the way for individual US states to decide if and how to allow abortions.

The order includes measures to safeguard access to abortion medication.

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It beefs up protection against potential penalties that women seeking abortion may face if they travel across state lines for the procedure, protects access to contraception, and takes steps to protect patient privacy.

The order directs Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to submit a report within 30 days on those efforts.

Mr Biden has maintained that his ability to institute abortion rights is limited without action from the US Congress.

“Until then, he has committed to doing everything in his power to defend reproductive rights and protect access to safe and legal abortion,” the White House said in a statement on Friday.

The action comes nearly two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion across the US.

Since then, at least nine states have instituted a near-total ban, with the only exception being danger to the life of the mother.

Other states are now scrambling to protect abortion access amid legal challenges, while abortion clinics are struggling to navigate patchworks of new laws.

Mr Biden is also directing the attorney general and White House counsel to convene private pro bono attorneys and public interest organisations to encourage legal representation for those seeking or offering reproductive health services.

“Such representation could include protecting the right to travel out of state to seek medical care,” the White House said.

The pontiff made the comments during a 90-minute interview at the Vatican with news agency Reuters on Saturday, although the article was not published until Monday morning.

The interview came just a week after the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24 threw out the 1973 ruling that enshrined women’s rights to medical abortions nationwide.

Pope Francis was asked about the court’s decision, but said he did not have enough information to speak about it from a legal perspective. Instead, he reiterated the Catholic Church’s teachings that life begins at the moment of conception.

He reportedly compared abortion to “hiring a hit man” and said: “I ask: Is it legitimate, is it right, to eliminate a human life to resolve a problem?”

It is not the first time the Pope has drawn the controversial comparison. Back in May 2019, whilst speaking at a Vatican-sponsored anti-abortion conference, he said: “Is it licit to throw away a life to resolve a problem? Is it licit to hire a hit man to resolve a problem?”

But he also said his opposition to abortion wasn’t a religious issue but a human one, during the same event. And despite his strong words condemning abortion, he has also previously expressed sympathy for women who have chosen them.

He also made it easier for them to be absolved of what Catholics see as the sin of abortion.

Regarding his comments comparing abortion to a hit man, the Holy See Press Office, which represents the Pope and the Vatican, told Newsweek: “It is not the first time that the Pope has said [this]. The reason is clear. The position of the Catholic Church on abortion is equally clear, to be found in the Catechism [summary of Catholic beliefs] and can certainly refer to the Catholic Church in the United States.”

Earlier in the Reuters interview at the weekend, the Pope was asked about a debate in the U.S. over whether a Catholic politician who supports others’ rights to choose abortion should be allowed to receive Communion.

House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, for example, was barred from receiving Communion at churches in her home diocese of San Francisco back in May.

A month before their meeting that year, The National Catholic Reporter asked Pope Francis about how the church should respond to parishioners who supported abortion rights.

The Pope reportedly said he would “never” deny anyone Communion.

“No, I have never denied the Eucharist to anyone, to anyone! I don’t know if someone came to me under these conditions, but I have never refused them the Eucharist, since the time I was a priest.”

It follows a landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court that overturned the constitutional right to abortion.

The judgement paves the way for individual states to ban the procedure.

Other firms, such as Amazon, had already announced similar moves.

But since the ruling a growing number of companies have confirmed they will cover travel costs through their health insurance plans for employees who leave their home state to get an abortion.

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Disney said it had told employees it recognised the impact of the Supreme Court ruling and remained committed to giving them “comprehensive access” to affordable healthcare, including family planning and reproductive care, “no matter where they live”.

Disney employs around 80,000 people at its resort in Florida, where the governor has already signed into law a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which is scheduled to take effect on 1 July.

Banking giant JP Morgan also told its US employees it would cover travel expenses for medical services, including “legal abortions”, according to a staff memo, dated 1 June and seen by Reuters news agency.

“We’re focused on the health and well-being of our employees, and want to ensure equitable access to all benefits,” a bank spokeswoman said on Friday.

Another leading US investment bank, Goldman Sachs, also said it would cover travel expenses for employees who needed to go to another state to get an abortion from 1 July, according to Reuters.

Social media company Meta said it intended to reimburse travel expenses where permitted by law, “for employees who will need them to access out-of-state health care”.

“We are in the process of assessing how best to do so given the legal complexities involved,” a spokesperson added.

Other companies which have indicated they will take similar steps include Vogue publisher Conde Nast, jeans brand Levi Strauss, and ride hailing companies Lyft and Uber.

Lyft also said it would legally shield drivers in abortion cases, with a spokesperson adding that “no driver should have to ask a rider where they are going and why”.

Several other companies, including Amazon, review website Yelp, and banking giant Citigroup, had already said before the Supreme Court ruling that they would reimburse employees who travel to circumvent local abortion restrictions

Yelp chief executive Jeremy Stoppelman said on Twitter that the court’s decision “puts women’s health in jeopardy”, adding that “business leaders must speak out”.

Abortion will not automatically become illegal in the US – but individual states will now be allowed to decide if and how to allow abortions.

A total of 13 states have already passed “trigger laws”, which come into effect upon Roe v Wade being overturned, to outlaw abortion.

More than 20 states are making moves to limit access, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Companies which offer to cover the cost of travelling to another state for the procedure are likely to face a backlash from anti-abortion Republicans.

Lawmakers in Texas have already threatened Citigroup and Lyft with legal repercussions, while the state’s Republican Party chairman Matt Rinaldi urged Republicans not to use Citi’s services.

Abortion is a highly divisive issue in the US. A recent Pew survey found that 61% of adults say abortion should be legal all or most of the time, while 37% say it should be illegal all or most of the time.

“What the contraceptives do is to prevent the pregnancy from occurring. The way they work is to ensure that if there is unprotected sex, no pregnancy will occur, even though it is not 100 percent.

“Once pregnancy has occurred, those contraceptive methods have no role in trying to get rid of the pregnancy, whether the pregnancy is needed or not,” the Deputy Director said.

He explained that the mechanism by which contraceptives work is not to terminate or interrupt the pregnancy, noting that “it is only meant to prevent pregnancies from occurring.”

Dr. Dokurugu said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), on the sidelines of the launch of the zero tolerance for maternal deaths due to unsafe abortion campaign in the Region.

The launch was on the theme: “Stop preventable maternal deaths and disabilities due to unsafe abortion.”

Dr. Dokurugu noted that the overdose of contraceptives with the intention to stop ongoing pregnancy is an emerging issue the GHS has to deal with in the Region and advised that once pregnancy has occurred and the person involved did not want the pregnancy, they should visit health facilities and not overdose on contraceptives or any other pills.

“It just doesn’t work. It will eventually push the person into any of the complications you can have when you take an overdose of any medicine and with regards to the contraceptives, the overdose will often push them into excessive vomiting, they feel bloated and generally weak,” he said.

He said “Once in a while, those general toxicity issues may just coincide with bleeding of some kind, and people may be tempted to believe that overdose of the contraceptive that is causing them to bleed. But it is usually not so.”

Dr. Dokurugu emphasized that once pregnancy occurs, a contraceptive pill had no role to play anymore.

The Regional Director of the GHS, Dr. Emmanuel Kofi Dzotsi, who earlier launched the campaign, said Ghana has made progress in improving access to safe and affordable services by increasing providers of comprehensive abortion care services.

He, however, indicated that access to services was still a challenge, with unsafe abortion contributing significantly to maternal mortality, “In Upper East Region, complications of unsafe abortion accounted for 3.0 percent of direct maternal mortality, and about 25 cases of postabortion complications.”

Dr Dzotsi mentioned bleeding, perforation, and sepsis among others as some of the complications from unsafe abortion practices, and called on journalists in the Region to be ambassadors of the campaign against unsafe abortion.

The aborted baby, believed to be a boy, was found dead with the placenta.

It had a handkerchief with blood stains which seems to be one of the materials that aided the illegal act but nobody has claimed responsibility of the act yet.

However, the Assin Fosu District Police Commander, Chief Supt. Cephas Arthur and his officers from CID and DOVVSU have commenced an investigation into the matter.

The foetus has also been buried by Assin Fosu environmental department.

In an exclusive interview with Jerry Justice on the Friday special Ofie Kwanso show, the 32-year-old mentioned her sexual exploits with over 100 men ended in just one pregnancy.

However, she said at that time the man involved was just a “friend with benefit”, a deal that did not involve an actual relationship or pregnancy, just casual sex.

It was for this reason that the unnamed man refused to father his child with Miss Korkor.

“If a man doesn’t love me or respect me, I will never have any child with you. I won’t force pregnancy on a man who doesn’t want me or my pregnancy, so I had an abortion at that time.”

Abena Korkor opined that she could have trapped some prestigious men she dated at the time with pregnancy, but that school of thought is one she does not belong to.

“I don’t wanna be a mother for just any man. Women tend to trap rich and prestigious men with babies just so they continue enjoying the glory. But me I will never have a child with any man for that reason, never. If you don’t value me, it is needless to carry your child,” she said.

She, however, believes she will carry babies for her future partner; a man who would not be the typical, average, traditionally-oriented man.

Watch the video below:

Madam Owusu, said to be a female Laboratory Technician, has been put before an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly administering drugs to cause an abortion on the teenager.

She has been charged with conspiracy to commit a crime to wit abortion.

One Mohammed is said to have taken the victim to a clinic at Abeka on January 7, 2022, at about 5:00 pm and madam Owusu, who was manning the clinic, allegedly gave the victim three drugs to be taken at dawn to terminate the pregnancy.

The victim took the drugs, and she began to bleed and in the process, the fetus dropped.

The matter was reported to the Police and Susan was arrested.

But GAMLS in a statement says a response from the Allied Health Professional Council (AHPC) indicates the suspect cannot be identified as a Laboratory Technician in Ghana.

AHPC’s response, according to GAMLS, follows an inquiry into the suspect’s professional status following the publication on January 18, 2022.

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The statement has further charged the Ministry of Health, regulators, and Director of Agencies under the ministry to take steps to prevent the current trend of assigning individuals who do not have the professional qualification to perform an abortion.

Read the statement below:

The court heard that he conspired with a friend and administered the drugs to the deceased in a discreet effort.

After administrating the drug, Sane Fidelis developed some medical complications and subsequently died at the specialist hospital in Yola.

The defendant, who was arrested on November 14, 2021, told the court that he had sex with the deceased on three occasions only, for which he believed he couldn’t have fathered the child.

He claimed that in order to prove she was truthful, he forced her to gulp the concoction after which she had an adverse reaction and stomach pain.

Ruling, Magistrate Alheri Ishaku ordered the remand of defendant in prison custody and adjourned the matter to December 13, 2021, for further mention.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has, therefore, put in place pragmatic approach to strengthen the integration of Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) services into the routine reproductive health services in Ghana.

The move is to improve access to safe abortion services in order to reduce maternal mortality in Ghana.

Bono Regional Director of GHS, Dr Kofi Amo-Kordie, made this known at an engagement with the Regional Coordinating Team and other Stakeholders on CAC services in Bono region.

This according to him, will improve access to sustainable quality of CAC services whilst contributing to the reduction of maternal mortality across the country in an effort to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 by 2030.

He stressed “institutionalising comprehensive abortion care services as permitted by Ghana’s law at all levels including linkages with the private sector safe abortion service providers is the way to go if we want to save lives of many women”.

The Bono Regional Director of GHS said maternal mortality has over the past two decades been declining though progress has remained too slow to achieve targeted reductions.

“Complications from unsafe abortions have contributed substantially to Ghana’s high maternal mortality and whether we like it or not, people will accidentally get pregnant and will abort it,” Dr Amo-Kordie stated.

The Bono Regional CAC Focal Person, Dr Anto said the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service have regularly convened NGOs, and other stakeholders to develop and update guidelines for preventing and managing unsafe abortions.

This, he noted, has facilitated the provision of a package of services called Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) to reduce unwanted pregnancy and abortion‐related maternal morbidity and mortality.

Dr. Anto said over the past two decades, progress to achieve the targeted reduction of maternal mortality has been at snail pace since many women in Ghana still seek illegal abortion, which vary widely in terms of safety.

He added maternal services are limited in rural communities across the country and many women in these areas have no access to family planning.

The Bono Regional Health Promotion Officer, Nana Ama Gyankomah Asirifi, said despite efforts by the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service and partners to expand CAC services, several factors impede use of these services.

The factors, she mentioned include stigmatization, poor knowledge of abortion’s legal status among the public and medical professionals, misperceptions about the safety of legal abortion and inadequate access to service.

The Bono Regional Health Promotion Officer added GHS will develop a system for routine down-stream training and knowledge sharing on the recording and reporting forms for CAC service provision at all levels.

Data from the GHS shows that the number of abortions procured in the same facilities in 2019 were 56,574, a reduction of 2,171 cases in the figures recorded last two years.

Spontaneous abortion also referred to as miscarriage is the loss of a fetus before the 20th week of pregnancy.

Similarly, 12,272 Medical abortions; the termination of a pregnancy with a pill within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy by a medical professional or an individual was recorded in 2020 as compared to 10, 834 cases recorded last year.

Additionally, in 2020, 11, 983 elective abortions; a planned procedure either done with medicine or surgery were recorded.

The Safe Motherhood Programme Manager at the GHS, Dr Chris Opoku Fofie said more spontaneous abortions were recorded because most pregnant women reported unsuccessful medical abortions as miscarriages in the hospital.

He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that medical abortions are gradually taking over surgical abortions in Ghana as abortion pills available for purchase in pharmacies.

“With medical abortions gaining popularity, people are no longer going for medical assistance, counseling, and they don’t avail themselves for family planning either,” he said.

Dr Fofie called for a national discourse on safe abortion practices to get rid of quack abortion doctors and reduce the extortion of exorbitant abortion fees by some medical doctors.

He said Ghana’s laws and regulation on family planning were obsolete and called for ways to regulate medical abortion practices to make it safer for women who require abortion services.

“We have an abortion law which doesn’t seem to respond to the immediate challenges and needs of the sexually active women in Ghana now, hence the need for an update to ensure that abortion is safe for all,” he said.

Ghana’s law on abortion allows abortion only under a few conditions such as an incest pregnancy, impregnation of a female with mental illness, impregnated rape victim, or when health care workers determine that the baby, if born, will not be able to have a meaningful life, or if the pregnancy threatens the health or life of the mother.

The laws of Ghana do not allow a healthy mother with a healthy pregnancy to get an abortion with the sole reason of not wanting the pregnancy.

The inexplicit nature of the law on abortion allows many citizens to draw a conclusion that abortion is illegal in Ghana.

Dr Fofie added that the popularity of medical abortions had however reduced the level of abortion complications and situations where women seek an unsafe abortion, leading to increased unwarranted maternal deaths and morbidities.

Abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy; it uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus, a procedure either done by an individual or a licensed health care professional.

In Ghana, the cost of safe abortions differ by the methods used. The price of medical abortion pills ranges from GHS50 – GHS150.
The costs of elective abortion in a medical facility can range between GHS260 and GHS500.

Police operatives attached to the Ikorodu Division of the Lagos State Police Command arrested the suspect on April 11, 2021, for the sudden death of his girlfriend identified as Enobong Udoh, 38.

One Blessing Pius, reported to the police that Enobong Udoh, was found dead in her house.

The police operatives immediately invited her boyfriend, Mr Okoro, for interrogation where he confessed that his lover died after an abortion.

He confessed his lover had taken seed in February and he visited her to confirm if she had indeed terminated the pregnancy.

When he discovered she had lied, Lagos State Police stated he confessed to have bought her pills, which in turn led to her death.

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According to the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the statement and utterances of the suspect revealed that he had some questions to answer.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu has ordered that he should be transferred to the  Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigations Department, Panti, Yaba for further investigation.

He also assured the general public that a thorough investigation would be carried out to ensure that justice prevails.

She was on her way to bury the premature baby girl concealed inside a rubber bucket in the bush when she was apprehended.

Preliminary investigation revealed the woman who was heavenly pregnant, approached a quack chemist, Odimegwu Ikunne, who allegedly administered injection on her and aborted the pregnancy.

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Meanwhile, search was executed at the premises of the quack chemist and some quantity of expired drugs/syringes which was used for the abortion were recovered.

Chidera, who was weak and had lost much blood at the time of her arrest is fully recovered due to urgent medical attention she received at a women welfare centre.

Consequently, the decomposing baby was buried based on experts advise in order not to constitute health hazard to the public.

To Madam Anaji, her daughter cannot become a mother at such a young age, adding that she will not be able to cater for her needs.

According to her, the incident happened after she moved in with her husband, Asante Yirenkyi aged 50, who happens to be the girl’s step-father.

“He was someone who had been pestering me for a relationship for over four years now but I declined at the initial stages because I was not so sure but after my mother intervened, I gave in,” she said.

Narrating the incident on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Madam Anaji explained she relocated from Kumasi to live with her husband barely a year ago.

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“I woke up around 4:30 am to sweep the house and that was when he slept with the girl but on my blindside but I found out when she started bleeding upon our return to Kumasi.

“I took her to the hospital for a scan and that was where she confessed the father was responsible after the doctor scared her of death if she withholds the information,” she added.

The conversation started after a popular user on the micro blogging platform shared a photo of the device and asked for opinions on what it could be used for. To the shock of many, another twitter user gave a long list of how it’s used, including for abortions.

“Used to cook noodles, used to boil water, used as hair straightener, Used to abort pregnancy (If you know you know), Used to melt butter to oil,” She replied.

See screenshot below…

Another user asked for explanation on how it’s used. See her explanation below…

The suspect, Mr Adusei Opoku, 62, was arrested by the Accra Central District Police for allegedly practising as a medical doctor without legal authority and aborting pregnancies from a house at Okaishie in Accra.

The victim, name withheld, gave her father the hint in her last words on her sick bed before she died.

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Father

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mrs Effia Tenge, said the victim’s father, accompanied by a woman (identities of both withheld), reported the incident to the Accra Central District Police, leading to Opoku’s arrest.

She said the 19-year-old girl, who was sick, was taken to the 37 Military Hospital in Accra for treatment about 9 p.m. on July 15, 2019.

She was admitted at the hospital, and about 12:15 p.m. on July 17, 2019, she confessed to her father that a man who she identified as Dr Opoku at Okaishie in Accra gave her some medicine to help abort her pregnancy.

Shortly after the confession, the victim was pronounced dead by the hospital while her dumbfounded father tried to make meaning out of her last words.

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Concoction

On his arrest, Opoku told the police that he learnt to practise medicine after acting as an assistant to a gynaecologist, whose name has been withheld by the police, for 30 years.

Mrs Tenge said Opoku claimed that after the gynaecologist, for whom he worked, died, he decided to take on the role after a number of people who knew he could help them get rid of pregnancies they did not want kept calling on him for his services.

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Opoku, who said he had not had any problem with any of his clients, admitted attending to the 19-year-old girl, but indicated that she had earlier taken some concoctions and only called on him after her situation got worse.

Source: Daily Graphic

An 18-year-old student of Eyan Maim Day Senior High School in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District of the central region who allegedly attempted to abort her four-month-old pregnancy has lost her life.

The deceased who was only identified as Diana, a second-year student died at the Mankessim Roman Hospital when she failed to tell doctors that she had a concoction to terminate her pregnancy.

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It is believed the concoction was given to Diana by one of her friends when she found out that she was pregnant.

Some co-tenants of Diana expressed shock at the incident with others saying the news was not surprising at all.

“She is a very reserved girl but she has been extremely quiet of late and we have been questioning if she was sick but she insisted she was fine but when we realized what the situation was, it was too late for anything to be done to save her life,” Diana’s fellow tenant said.

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Mr Francis Omega who helped the tenants to convey Diana to the hospital said this was no news to him.

“Because the school is a day school with no hostel or boarding facility, the students have to get their own means of accommodation and as a result, most of them are occupants of a popular hotel in this area,” Mr Omega noted.

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However speaking to the headmistress of the school Sarah Baah Odoom, she said she wasn’t in the know about Diana’s death.

“This is very new to me because the school is a day school so the parents are expected to come and inform us but nobody has been here; we are not aware of the death of any of our students.”

“Interrupting a pregnancy is like eliminating someone,” Francis said in an address to worshippers in the Vatican.

“Getting rid of a human being is like resorting to a contract killer to solve a problem,” he said.

“Is it just to resort to a contract killer to solve a problem?”

His comments departed from the prepared text for his homily delivered during his weekly audience on Saint Peter’s Square.

In his address, the Argentine pontiff complained of a “depreciation of human life”.

He cited wars, exploitation and what he called a culture of wastefulness, as well as abortion.

“How can an act that suppresses innocent life be therapeutic, civil or even human?” he asked.

Referring to abortion of unborn children with disabilities, Francis criticised advice given to parents who were told to terminate their pregnancies.

“Sick children are just like every other needy person on earth, just like an elderly person who needs help, or the poor who struggle to make both ends meet,” he said.

Francis this year opposed a bill that would have legalised abortion in his home country of Argentina.

In August a lay campaign group said thousands of Argentine Catholics had renounced their membership of the church to protest against his opposition to the bill.

Unsafe abortion also recorded 13,918 in the same period as compared to 15,325 unsafe abortion cases in 2016, Mr Raphael Godlove Athena, the Chief Executive Officer of Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), a health-inclined non-governmental organisation, has said.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani in commemoration of the 2018 Safe Abortion Day, Mr Ahenu said the provision of safe and legal abortion remains essential to achieving goals three and seven of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of access to sexual and reproductive health.

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He said there is the need for government to commit more resources-financial and logistics to provide comprehensive sexual education-family planning counselling, access to safe abortion and contraceptives.

Mr Ahenu expressed regret that unreported cases of unsafe abortion were killing many women in the country due to the laws prohibiting abortion.

“Many desiring women and girls cannot easily access effective contraceptives and safe abortion services as well as family planning services. This is affecting them seriously as most of them prepare and apply concoctions to terminate unintended pregnancies”, he said.

Globally, Mr Ahenu said, 25 million unsafe abortion cases occur every year, according to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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The Policy denies US funding of family planning and population assistance programmes.

He said his NGO was determined to use all available resources to intensify advocacy campaign on safe abortion and easy access to contraceptives to help reduce maternal mortality.

The aborted baby was found dead with the placenta at the public refuse dump in the outskirt of the Atonsu community.

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The body was found with a handkerchief with blood stains which seems to be one of the materials that aided the illegal act.

Although nobody has claimed responsibility of the act so far the Assin Fosu divisional police commander, Chief Supt. Henry B.M Baxho and his officers from CID and DOVVSU office have initiated investigation into the matter.

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Assin Atonsu has a record of abortion cases. A similar incident happened in the same community, five months ago but with that one, the baby survived after being kept in an incubator for some days.

The perpetrators were found and arranged before court after police investigation.

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Speaking to Adom News, the Chief of Assin Atonsu, Nana Kwame Obri Asamoah cautioned residents of the community especially the youths to abstain from premarital sex which usually causes issues of this nature.

The figure comprised of 31 girls aged between 10 and 14, and 955 adolescent girls aged between 15 and 19 years.

Madam Diana Bona, Greater Accra Regional Adolescent Health Coordinator, disclosed this on the sidelines of the Kwesi Plange Adolescent Health Community Club outreach programme at Tema Community One Site Two.

Madam Bona indicated that the figure represented abortion cases reported to the various health centres due to complications and were subsequently referred to the Adolescent health corners.

She disclosed that even though health officials were encouraging adolescents to abstain from premarital sex, some of them were reluctant to refrain as a result 13,003 of them had been put on various family planning methods.

Five-hundred and eight of those put on family planning were girls aged between 10 and 14 years who are sexually active.

Madam Bona disclosed that a total of 1,242 reported to the adolescent corners in the Region with Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) while 103 and 225 had issues with drug abuse and mental health respectively.

She said even though her outfit recorded a decrease in teenage pregnancy and other adolescent issues in 2017 compared to 2016, more must be done to improve adolescent health in the Region.

She, therefore, urged adolescents to visit the 36 adolescent corners in the Region and join the 32 clubs in Senior High and Junior High schools to learn and get answers to developmental questions bothering them and other related issues.

Touching on the recent craze of Tramadol abuse among the youth, she said adolescent-friendly health officials were embarking on sensitization programmes to curb the canker.

Madam Mamunatu Ibrahim, the midwife in-charge of the Brohani Rural Clinic, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the practice was among girls between the ages of 13 and 15 years.

Though she could not immediately provide figures on cases reported, Madam Ibrahim said early marriage was the major contributory factor to the unsafe abortion rates in the area.

She said teenage pregnancy was rife in the area, and appealed to relevant institutions to help control early and forced marriages in the community.

Madam Ibrahim said though teenage pregnancy was high in the area, only four teenage girls of 13 and 14 years delivered at the Clinic between January to May this year.

She indicated that because of early and forced marriages, many of the girls in the area had dropout of school and were now nursing babies.

Madam Ibrahim said because of poverty, many parents in the area had shirked their responsibility towards the upbringing of their children making the girl go into early marriage at the expense of their education.

The midwife added that adolescent girls in the area lacked sexual education and that could partly be a factor to the alarming rate of teenage pregnant and unsafe abortion.

The sex blogger who has in the past voted for sex before marriage and at one point slammed virgins noted that Abortion is not a sin but Africans have branded it so.

She further noted that she does not believe babies are blessings.

In her post titled “Abortion is not a sin,” she wrote:

“Don’t ask me for advice on what to do with your unwanted pregnancy because I will tell you to go for a D&C. You see, I am not going to be amongst the women who tell you to keep a baby you are not psychologically or emotionally prepared for.

I do not believe the whole hogwash story that once the baby is born, he will end up being a blessing. Neither do I believe in the bullshit theory that once you hold the baby in your hands, you will be enveloped with so much love.

African people has made it a point of duty to tell anyone seeking help for their unwanted pregnancies that, they should keep the baby. Why? Because they assume abortion is a sin

Until people start allowing others make choices that are better for them, we will continue to hear stories of women who abadoned their babies in cartons and single mothers lying about having children just to get married.

See, those women who dump their children should not be called wicked because someone directly or indirectly advised them to keep a pregnancy they Didn’t want.

Once they had the baby, the people who gave them such stupid advise left to live their lives and reality hit them. I can assume that once they held the baby in their hands, they didn’t feel that love people spoke off and all they felt was regret and disdain.

Every unborn child deserves a mother who is psychologically ready for him/her. It is unfair to the unborn child to say abortion is a sin. Not every woman deserves to be mother so stop forcing it on every woman you see.”

The blogger in another post published on her Facebook page wrote:

“I’m in my early 20’s and I have saggy bosoms like a 65-year-old.

Just so you know, my breasts didn’t start growing at the time I had anticipated. When I was in primary 5, my chest region was as flat as a new-born. There were no signs my breasts were going to grow. I didn’t even have a large nipple. Most of the girls in my class had well-rounded tits sitting comfortably on their chest.

To make matters worse, there was a fat boy in my class who had breasts (probably because of his weight). I didn’t like him one bit as he had something I wasn’t able to have yet. I desperately wanted breasts as I believed having them would initiate me into a certain kind of womanhood cult every girl ought to belong to.

I decided to take matters into my hands so I asked for help from the expert. Toyosi was the girl with the biggest boobs in my class back then so I asked her how I was supposed to grow some and she gave me the ultimate breast enlarging solution.

She told me to apply palm oil on my nipples and find a black ant to bite me on the spot where I applied the palm oil. She explained the swelling will make them grow out and assured me of the efficacy of the remedy as she had gotten it from her mother. I couldn’t get the black ant I caught to bite me on my nipples. For whatsoever reason, the ant didn’t find me good enough to be bitten.

By the time I entered Jss2, I still had no breasts and my period had not even started. I gave up on my breasts dream and figured I would be the first woman without breasts and periods.

I had already accepted my fate and took my mind off the possibility that I would be a well-endowed busty girl. Just when I had given up hope, my breasts started coming out. The whole situation reaffirmed the fact that most times, we get that thing we desperately want when we stop obsessing over it.

My breasts came out but they didn’t come out the way I anticipated. They were small and pointed downwards. I grew up seeing women who had well-rounded breasts that pointed forward so I imagined that was how it would be for me.

Someone close to me says I have banana breasts. My “boobs” are saggy and small. They do not stand but point downwards. I hated my body for a long while and I wasn’t comfortable with my appearance. I kept trying all sorts of breasts enlarging and firming creams that just didn’t work.

I have been told to avoid V-necked shirt so my boobs don’t show. I have been told to avoid taking pictures from the neck down. I have been told to hide my breast as they were unattractive. I have been told to wear bras to bed. I have been given all sorts of recommendations.

I did all I was told to do till I realized that nothing is going to change because this is just how I am. Every woman is different and our body parts come in different shapes and sizes. Just like some men have small p*nis and others have fairly big ones so do some women have different breasts sizes and shape.

This is not a cry for help. I do not need your home remedies for sagging breasts. Neither do I need your breasts enlargement cream or your recommendation of the perfect surgeon. My sagging boob isn’t as a result of the number of men I have slept with.

It also has nothing to do with the number of abortions I may or may not have had. Science is yet to prove the relationship between sagging breasts, abortions and sex. Till science does, I am right to say my sagging boob is a natural phenomenon.

I am comfortable with my body and there’s no shame in admitting how my body shape is. Self-love is very hard especially when we are being surrounded with altered images and edited content. Self-love is hard because the moment you try to be confident in your own body, you are shamed for it.

I have seen it all on Instagram. I have seen how people insult celebrities that dare display their sagging breasts or “show-off” their huge well-rounded tits.

The other day, Laura Ikeji deactivated her comment section because people trolled her sales manager who wore a revealing cloth.

In their words “how can she display her breasts that are not even standing?” Someone went further to say “they have sucked the life out of her breasts”.

Self-love is hard but I am loving myself nonetheless. I am a 20-something year old with sagging boobs. I will wear V-necked shirts, I will take pictures of my body how I like and no, I will not wear bras all the time because my breasts need to breathe!”

Akos, was believed to be carrying a four-month old pregnancy, Rainbow Radio’s Abdul Malik Anokye has reported.

The deceased, according to sources, used a substance suspected to be weedicide.

He said mother of deceased declined to take responsibility of the girl and so she used the chemical to abort the pregnancy.

Meanwhile, the police has declared the boy who allegedly impregnated the deceased wanted.

The suspect, Godwin Kwame Dadzawa, according to the La Police Commander, Superintendent Oduro Amaning, terminates pregnancies for young girls under life-threatening condition in a dilapidated structure.

Superintendent Oduro Amaning said the suspect was arrested upon a tip-off from a lady who had suffered some complications during a procedure at the suspect’s premises.

The operations of Dadzawa, according to the lady, has put several lives of young women in Bukom and its environs in danger.

She said his clients are admitted for at least four hours in the stuffy and unhygienic rooms after going through the abortion process before they are released to go home.

Antibiotics, painkillers, and blood tonics are administered to the victims after the abortion.

Superintendent Oduro Amaning said his outfit is processing the suspect for court as soon as possible.

But the suspect has denied the allegation that he has been parading himself as a doctor, explaining that he is a Male Nurse at a clinic in the area but people have chosen to call him doctor.

“I am not a doctor but rather a nurse, but people in this area and even the police commander in Bukom call me doctor and so I accepted that in good faith and decided to help the ladies in the area” he told Adom News’ Kwame Kulenu.

Listen to the fake doctor

The report said the figure represented 12.7 percent of 9,612 cases of unsafe abortion recorded in the country within the period.

Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Chief Executive Officer of Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), an anti-corruption media advocacy Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), made this known in Sunyani on Tuesday.

Addressing a news conference to announce the outcome of a safe abortion project his NGO is implementing in the region, Mr Ahenu observed with regret the increasing trend of teenage pregnancy and unsafe abortion in the country.

He said 110,000 adolescent girls in 352 basic schools across the country got pregnant in 2016 adding that out of the figure, the Brong-Ahafo Region alone recorded 12,112 cases in 38 basic schools.

Mr Ahenu said there is the need for adolescent people to easily access safe abortion services at public health facilities to lower the high unsafe abortion rates which contributes to maternal deaths in the country.

He called for a national policy guideline for the distribution of condoms in all public places and gatherings to ensure easy access.

Mr Ahenu said when the stigma attached to the use of condoms and other family planning methods such as pills, are addressed, teenagers who could not control their sexual desires would feel at ease and demand for the services.

He said easy access to HIV testing and counseling as well as stronger subsequent links to HIV treatment services for those who test HIV positive were also needed.

Mr Ahenu said alcoholism and drug abuse were major driving force which pushed teenagers into promiscuous lives and called for a realistic national policy to control alcoholism among adolescent people.

He said availability, accessibility and acceptability are the key obstacles that adolescent people face in accessing contraceptives.

Mr Ahenu said there is an urgent need to intensify the education campaign on the use of contraceptives and family planning services especially in basic schools to save the lives of pregnant girls and their unborn babies.

“We can no longer postpone sexual education among adolescent people because they are actively engaging in sex”, he said.

source: GNA