Shall we stay away from politics this Friday…
Following the reversal of the Roe vs Wade ruling by the supreme court in the United States, a country seen as the ‘woke’ capital of the world has been divided on the issue of support for abortion.
There are questions regarding what a post Roe vs Wade America will look like, which is now a place where abortion is dependent on where you reside — this simply means that states now control access to abortion. They can either choose to ban abortion, restrict it, or protect a person’s right to choose.
Some Nigerians have also expressed shock and displeasure toward the June 2022 development and what the impact will be on the global movement for women’s rights. In the same month of June, the media reported that Lagos, Nigeria’s economical hub, was developing a guideline on safe, lawful abortion.
Legality of Abortion In Nigeria
In Nigeria, abortion is only legal when performed to save a woman’s life. Asides from that, abortion is illegal and carries a heavy jail sentence of up to 14 years. Still, abortions are common.
According to reports, Lagos is proposing a 40-page policy document titled ‘Lagos state guidelines on safe termination of pregnancy,’ which sets out guidelines for safe termination of pregnancy within the ambit of the criminal law of the state.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Olusegun Ogboye, noted that the absence of clear guidelines had stalled the effective implementation of the permissible therapeutic termination of pregnancy at appropriate levels of care resulting in preventable deaths.
If you are Pro-Choice or someone with a semblance of common sense and empathy, you would be glad that Lagos is finally trying to create a guideline for safe (restricted) abortion procurement.
However, on the 3rd of July 2022, a letter signed by Rev. Fr. Anthony Godonu, Director of Social Communications, Lagos Catholic Archdiocese, described the move as unacceptable and unjustifiable, with claims that this was a move to legalise abortion through the backdoor (whatever that means). The Catholic church, Lagos archdiocese, vowed to resist the move.
Reasons for Abortion
According to a journal published online on the 27 of May 2020 on unsafe abortion practices in Nigeria, reasons women give for having an abortion include a desire not to disrupt their education or that their partners refused paternity.
If we stopped acting like our white weren’t a little stained too, we wouldn’t be quick to shut the hospital doors from women that need abortions. We know young ladies whose lives have gone downhill after their pregnancies. We’ve heard stories of married women whose bodies needed abortions but couldn’t because their lives weren’t at immediate risk.
These ladies and women turn to quack doctors, with many dying on the table. While Lagos is trying to create guidelines for abortion, organisations and institutions whose leaderships are largely dominated by men are kicking against it.
Nigeria has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world and unsafe abortion is a major contributor to it. Various studies have quoted unsafe abortions to be responsible for up to 30% of overall maternal mortality. Women die on quack tables or from complications of illegal procedures because they cannot access safe abortion clinics. Legalising abortion will drastically reduce maternal mortality.
Women won’t have to die just because they are not ready to have a child. Women won’t have to bear pregnancies that are killing them. It is confusing why religious bodies always kick against rules that aren’t forcing their members to do anything. Members need to get pregnant first, before needing abortion services.
If organisations like the Catholic body are interested in the wellbeing of its members, the focus should be on ensuring that they are not involved in any form of coitus that will lead to unwanted/unplanned pregnancy. But no, they are bothered about imposing religious laws on circular states.
Laws that affect not only Christians but also non-Christians and non-religious individuals. I am confused by how and why our law and policymakers are held down by the shackles of religious mental slavery, so much so that they cannot function independently of what their Pastors or Imams may think.
Abortion rights
Preventing women and girls from accessing abortion does not stop them from needing one. Access to safe abortion services is a human right as human rights law clearly states that decisions about your body are yours. With the sustained criminalisation of abortion, the state and everyone involved are playing their part in the continued sentencing of numerous women to death.
For a country with very high religious hypocritical standards, you will expect that measures will be taken toward better sex education for teens and young adults to reduce the need for abortion services, but the reverse is the case.
The World Health Organisation has noted that one of the first steps toward avoiding maternal deaths and injuries is for states to ensure that people have access to sex education, are able to use effective contraceptives, have access to safe and legal abortions, and are given timely care should there be complications.
The journal referenced a study that disclosed that 80% of interviewed politicians and policymakers admitted that unsafe abortion was a major cause of maternal mortality, however, only 20% were willing to support any amendment to the existing laws (no be juju be that?).
Until we honestly care for the wellbeing of our fellow citizens, void of hypocrisy and religious grandiosity, the possibility of having documents as simple as guidelines for restricted abortion services will not see the light of day (because, yes, Lagos bowed to pressure and had to suspend its abortion guidelines) and people (women like me) will continue to die.
3 comments
The best form of abortion is abstinence, the next best is prevention… killing a fetus because you can is murder in my opinion.
It takes two people to get pregnant, it should take two people to determine what next… women have every right to their body, but pregnancy is not an invasive specie, it is usually intentional coitus that leads pregnancy barring the issues of rape and sexual abuse.
Pregnancy from unintended sexual engagement is automatically invasive and should be rid off instantly, but any woman that likes it raw should not have the option of plucking out babies for the fun of it. Tokophobia should never be a reason for having access to abortion.
In the case of health risk to the pregnant woman, it shouldn’t even be a debate, it becomes necessary because a complicated pregnancy is more dangerous. The law approves this already, and although pregnancies are sometimes deemed not to be dangerous to the mother and they turn out to be, most cases of such are with pregnant women that are willing to carry their baby to term with hope and not forced pregnancies because of abortion laws.
There are a thousand ways to have pleasurable sex without getting pregnant, a thousand more ways to stay healthy if you value your life. Unprotected sex has more risk or danger than pregnancy leading to abortion, a whole lot more diseases that can kill faster.
The life of women are not endangered by pregnancies, it is endangered by the choices they make. Flippant abortion should not be hidden under the demand for safe abortion right that is already existing, safe abortion rights should also never consider flippancy in any breathe.
Safe abortion is not even safe, the danger is just reduced and should not be encouraged, safe sex is what should be promoted. If you don’t want pregnancy, don’t grab a raw dick, grab a dildo instead or avoid erections completely.
Well said
First I have a few questions.
Will society and government carry the fetus they are setting the ruling to live for for nine months?
In Nigeria is there adequate support for single mothers and women pregnant outside wedlock?
What has the government done to educate the general public on stigmatization of out of marriage pregnancy and single mothers?
If the girl is in school when she gets pregnant and decides to have the kid, Nigerian lecturers will make it their life mission to make education 10x more frustrating for her to ensure she doesn’t graduate, if she is working and gets pregnant and has the kid, most companies in Nigeria barely even give married women adequate maternity leave, talk of a single woman.
plus not every woman capable of bearing a child is capable of raising a child, and when a child comes in the wrong circumstances it already sets a negative precedence for how their life will be.
Existing does not equal living,and nothing done by the government or by society is ensuring a good life for kids born outside wedlock or for young mothers incapable of raising the kids they give birth to.
No body should go through a life sentence because they had sex, and that is what a kid that isn’t born in the right situation can be. We all have hormones charging through our body since puberty, people will have sex, no precautionary measure promises 100% protection, so where does that leave people?
And why is it okay to abort a 72 hours old “might form fetus” and not a 2months old barely formed fetus? since we are giving every fetus a chance to live through any and every woman’s body? I ask because the government is allowing the sales and distribution of after sex pills.
The child, the mother, the father (if he doesn’t bail) and the girl’s family will go through series of events that can’t be described as anything short of unfortunate because a boy and a girl had sex?
And not choosing to do that is crime enough to be sent to jail for 14years?God Abeg!