Termination of pregnancy in the Cameroon Grasslands. Medicine, culture, and practice
##The objective of the study was to gain a deeper knowledge of why women induce abortions, despite possible legal and medical consequences, by relocating medical issues into their local socio-cultural context and integrating the special circumstances of women´s lives. Furthermore, this study intended to explore to what extend cultural and social grounds prevent a greater acceptance of so called modern contraceptives, besides lack of information and availability. Within the framework of a qualitative, hospital-based study in the Cameroon Grassfields over a period of sixteen months between 1996 and 1997 interviews were conducted with 65 women, who had had an induced abortion, after an informed, oral consent was obtained, and privacy and anonymity were assured. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to focus the conversations in in-depth interviews, but there was the possibility to digress and to respond in a more open-ended way. These data were supplemented by experience from participant-observation, hospital files and interviews with key informants including medical personnel.##
Keywords: abortion in Cameroon, pregnancy in Cameroon, medical anthropology, contraceptives in Cameroon
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