Challenges to Women’s Reproductive Rights and Unsafe Abortion in Nepal

The Constitution of Nepal 2072 guarantees women’s reproductive rights as fundamental rights. The government has expanded safe abortion services across all 77 districts of the country. However, due to social pressure and lack of access to these services, unsafe abortions remain widespread. A few years ago, while attending to patients in the hospital’s outpatient department, a 28-year-old woman came for her fourth pregnancy check-up. After all examinations, she requested a video X-ray to determine the sex of her child because she already had three sons and faced family pressure that the fourth child should also be a boy. I repeatedly explained to her that revealing the sex in this way is illegal and sex selection is prohibited. However, she said, “If it cannot be done here, I can go to another hospital or clinic, pay money to find out whether the child is a boy or girl, and then get an abortion done there. If that’s not possible either, I will go to India.”

Similarly, a 29-year-old woman was preparing to deliver a child by caesarean section. She had previously given birth to two daughters through surgery. When giving birth to her third child, she wondered whether it was appropriate to use a permanent contraceptive method and consulted her husband and family. However, her socially respected husband and father-in-law said, “If a son is born, that’s fine. If a daughter is born, then you must have another child. Do not use contraception.” Such incidents are frequently experienced by doctors and health workers.

Before blaming women for unsafe abortions, it is essential to consider the condition of our society and its social aspects. According to global recognition of reproductive rights and safe abortion, women have full autonomy to decide whether or not to conceive, and whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term. Despite the expansion of safe abortion services in Nepal, many challenges remain to effectively prevent unsafe abortions.