Parental Consent: A Hindrance or Catalyst to Adolescent's Access to Contraception in South Western Nigeria

This presentation, delivered at the International Conference on Family Planning in November 2018 by Fifi Ogbondeminu explores the extent to which parental consent facilitated or hindered adolescent girls’ access to contraception in Nigeria. Parental engagement can be done well to improve the enabling environment for adolescent girls to access SRH services, but conversely when done poorly (especially when differing interpretations of the federal law at a local level lead to inconsistent application), adolescents may be prohibited from accessing methods or forced to falsify consent forms to receive the method that they want, counteracting the relationship of trust intended to be built between the girl and the provider.