Why women risk their lives and turn to quacks, pills for abortions

As a girl growing up in small-town Uttar Pradesh, Pooja wanted to “get ahead in life”. She wanted to be a working woman, earn a comfortable living and get out of the confines of her village. But getting married soon after graduation – when she was just 21 – paused her plans.

Pooja, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy, lives in Azamgarh’s Atraulia block and has two sons, seven and 12 years. “I was stuck taking care of two children,” she said. But she managed to study further and finished her Bachelors in Education while her second child was a baby. Now, after working all day, she studies at night for government competitive exams for teacher jobs.

When she found that she was pregnant in December 2023, she was shocked. She always tracks her periods and uses condoms. It put a break on her career plans.

The Atraulia community health centre and the Sau Saiya, a 100-bed government hospital, are the two closest public health facilities near Atraulia. There were no gynaecologists at the community health centre, at the time we visited in May 2024. One ayurvedic doctor was providing services to women at the hospital. Pooja, and many other women in this…

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