Unmarried pregnant women shying away from ante-natal care

Many unmarried pregnant women in the Eastern Region are shying away from attending ante-natal care at health facilities as a result of some levels of discrimination at the health facilities.

Most of these expectant women who refused to go to the health facilities for both pre-natal and post-natal care are young women within the ages of between 16 and 30.

Some of the pregnant women who spoke to the GNA expressed the belief that married expectant women are given preferential treatment and treated with urgency than those with no husbands.

Akosua Tiwa an expectant lady from a village near Suhum, said during her first visit to an ante-natal clinic, the nurse who was taking her medical history made some derogatory remarks about her single motherhood situation and since then she has decided to depend on traditional herbalists for their concoctions.

Grace Owusua, another expectant mother, also said during one of her visits to a clinic, even though she arrived early, those who came late with their husbands were given preferential treatment whiles she had to spend the whole day waiting for her turn.

She said she was ignored by the nurses when she complained and has also decided to visit a traditional birth attendant for her medical needs.

Some women who had also delivered recently recalled unhappy experiences at the labour wards where even when they called for help, the nurses asked them to call their husbands instead.

Investigations by the GNA revealed that one possible reason for the prejudice against expectant women was due to the Maternal Health folder given at the health facilities during ante-natal care which enquired of one’s marital status.

Source: GNA