Adolescent Females' Reproductive Health in Nigeria : A Study on the Legislation and Socio-Cultural Impediments to Abortion and Against Female Circumcision

The multi-cultural and multi-ethnic Nigerian society belongs to those developing countries where adolescents age 15-19 years, make up for the largest and growing age bracket of the total population. While reliable statistics on health issues are hardly available in Nigeria, it is estimated that over 60 percent of Nigerian women underwent some form of genital mutilation, which is responsible for a multitude of health problems later. Thus, this research explored issues of high political and social relevance in Nigeria as well as in international discussions from the World Health Organization to internationally operating non-governmental organizations of women''s rights activists. The study gives a comprehensive discussion of cross-national studies on abortion and contraception, and on the effects of liberalizing the laws on it. The study adopted qualitative methodological techniques for the gathering of data by relying on focus group discussions and interviews of the target population-adolescents, as well as adults, orthodox and unorthodox medical experts. Finally, this empirical research provides a solid basis for further sociological research on the conditions of adolescent females'' health and for practical steps in improving the Nigerian health care system.