ABSTRACT

Globally, women, experience inequities in access to safe abortion services and this is most acutely felt in country contexts where legal abortions are highly restricted. Data around abortion amongst young women who sell sex (YWSS) in sub-Saharan Africa are very limited. We conducted 30 focus group discussions and 42 in-depth interviews (IDIs) amongst YWSS (16–24 years) in urban and peri-urban areas of Zimbabwe, as well as IDIs amongst 16 peer educators, five health care providers and four key informants. Our findings indicate that abortions occur amongst YWSS in Zimbabwe but there remain questions over the extent of safety of abortions. The restrictive legal context around abortion and illegality of sex work in the country are key determinants underlying the clandestine nature of abortions. Socioeconomic concerns are key in decision-making around abortions. Youth, cost and lack of referral networks contribute towards unsafe abortions, even when safe abortion services are available. Many YWSS are not aware of the availability of post abortion care (PAC) services and resort to self-administered PAC. Being young and selling sex combine and interact on the economic and social levels to produce vulnerabilities greater than their sum to experiencing unsafe abortion.

摘要

在全球范围内，妇女在获得安全堕胎服务方面经历不平等，这在合法堕胎受到严格限制的国家环境中最为明显。关于撒哈拉以南非洲年轻女性卖淫 (YWSS) 的堕胎数据非常有限。我们在津巴布韦城市和城郊地区的 YWSS（16-24 岁）中进行了 30 次焦点小组讨论和 42 次深度访谈 (IDI)，并在 16 名同伴教育者、5 名医疗保健提供者和 4 名关键知情人之间进行了 IDI . 我们的研究结果表明，在津巴布韦的 YWSS 中发生了流产，但对流产的安全程度仍存在疑问。该国关于堕胎和非法性工作的限制性法律背景是堕胎秘密性质的关键决定因素。社会经济问题是堕胎决策的关键。即使可以提供安全的堕胎服务，青年、成本和转诊网络的缺乏也会导致不安全堕胎。许多 YWSS 不知道堕胎后护理 (PAC) 服务的可用性，并求助于自我管理的 PAC。年轻和卖淫在经济和社会层面上结合并相互作用，产生的脆弱性大于经历不安全堕胎的总和。