@cruso; these matters should not be left to the woman. It takes the two to tango. If left to the man, I think there will be more abortions. I believe most ladies decide to abort either because the man responsible (or is it irresponsible) demands it to be done or the lady does it out of frustration and rejection by the man and left to go it alone.

So I agree that if we men who are men enough to take responsibility for the pregnancy, the cases would be much less. But sadly, it is men who give the prescription on this debate.

On the other side of the debate, what happens to women who get pregnant after rape? Should they be allowed to abort or not?

@SKY5, in my earlier post I had suggested that in case of rape, the lady may be forced to make that decision alone without involving or seeking the counsel of the rapist. But lets not forget that the raped lady has brothers, cousins, a father, friends etc....who are men and she may seek their assistance or counsel...

I therefore still support @famooz that as society we should step up our responsibility concerning this matter by establishing institutions that can take care of such children because for sure they are totally innocent if you ask me, besides the aftermath of procuring an abortion has immense negative effects on our women that its not just worth it.

FACT: Let's face it, we are in the 3rd world. we can't afford
institutions to take care of all (or even the
majority of) 'unwanted'(I cringe at the word) babies, in the
same way we don't have enough primary schools, hospitals,
colleges - ah,kila kitu! thats why its never featured highly
or at all in our national budget...even in more developed
countries the problem persists

Any interventions to reduce the incidences of abortion therefore have to focus on preventing the main cause of unwanted pregnacies - unprotected sex.
Unfortunately, so far sex education, religious institutions, threat of STIs, being killed by your lover's lover, and even death have failed to dampen the mood for unprotected sex...

And going by history,I think interventions to totally reduce casual unproteced sex are futile, a lost cause because sex is the second most powerful drive in humans after the hunger drive. This drive is so powerful, cuts across cultures, races, religions,across the most human sophisticated communities as well as the most priitive Sentinelese communities in the Bay of Bengal.

Discussion of sex-related issues has always been difficult across eons and will never have consensus.
Like:
- to legitimise or de-legitimise prostitution?
- to legitimise or de-legitimise abortion?
- why aren't STDs fully eradicated?
- Why polygamy & NOT polyandry?
- GALCK
- etc

the human race is at its most advanced in its history yet these problems still persist. We the current humankind found the above problems and will still leave them behind us. At best we will reduce the incidences. Sad reality.

QSTN: Why do women still get paged even when they can use protection, or failing that still have 3 full days within which to take Postinor 2 (or other) emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy?

i always think ignoring the fact that it is the fate of person being discussed should never be forgotten.