According to Act 29, section 58, article 3, of the Criminal code of 1960, "Abortion or miscarriage means premature expulsion or removal of conception from the uterus or womb before the period of gestation is completed.
Medically, there have been attempts to clearly distinguish between the two,[2] but the laws in Ghana concerning this matter do not make this distinction.
Another study carried out in the 1990s suggested that in southern Ghana, the number is marginally higher, at 17 abortions for every 1,000 women.
Researchers peg this to the possibility that these women may have more knowledge, both of the legal status of abortions, and more likely, where to obtain the procedure.
Women in the top 40% of the wealth distribution in the country are 67%–80% more likely to have abortions that their poorer counterparts.
The reasons that Ghanaian women give for seeking abortions include: the financial inability to care for a child, the pregnancy interfering with their occupation or schooling, and wanting to space out their childbearing or to limit family size.
Much of this data was collected based on face-to-face interviews, rendering it unlikely that they will reveal an accurate estimate of the occurrence of abortions.
According to a paper, the number of abortions in Ghana is more likely to be closer to the West African rate of 28 per 1,000 women.
[6] According to national statistical data, contraceptive use has increased over the decades, but from 13% use by married women in 1988, to just 25% by this demographic in 2003 followed by a slight decline to 24% in 2008.
[8] A much higher proportion of sexually active unmarried women use modern contraceptives, but in 2008, this number was just 28% of the population.