Karnali, Feb 22: Ten to 20 per cent among the women undergoing safe abortion in Karnali province are teenage girls, the Ministry of Social Development of the province government stated.    

Five thousand seven hundred and fourteen women had taken safe abortion service in the province from mid-November 2017 to mid-October 2018. Among them, 776 were less than 20 years.    

Similarly, 912 among the 5,741 women who underwent safe abortion during the same period in Fiscal Year 2018/19 were teenage girls. Likewise, 586 among the women availing of this service during the mid-November 2019 to mid- October 2020 were adolescent girls, the Ministry stated.    

Although the number of women taking this service during this period is less compared to the corresponding period in the previous years due to the lockdown imposed to prevent spread of COVID-19, the data shows that the number of adolescent girls undergoing safe abortion is in increasing trend in Karnali province.    

Marie Stopes Centre Surkhet said among the women coming for having safe abortion at its clinic those between ages 16 to 24 are high in number. It is legal in Nepal to abort fetus up to 12 weeks of conception.