Yes I said it.
In the past 2 years I have observed and gleaned information from my doctor friends, media about practices here in the UK.
Enter a typical clinic in the UK and there are posters discreetly placed giving you numbers to call if you are pregnant and need someone to talk to about the next step to take. Contraception, condoms, morning after pills can be found in most public toilets...just so you don't have an excuse to have unprotected sex. These policies are acceptable because the govt recognises/accepts that sex will happen whether they approve of it or not. so they might as well make it safe. Moreover economically it is cheaper to prevent than cure STDS/AIDS or provide abortion innit?
Requests for morning after pills are treated as emergencies in GPs since their efficacy is limited by times. Request for a termination and you receive VIP treatment. You are counseled and taken through the steps involved in the termination.
Dilation and curettage are of course extinct practices. It’s all about drugs now. First Mifepristone which blocks the hormone progesterone and causes the uterus lining to break down followed by Misoprostol which makes the womb contract, causing cramping and bleeding similar to a miscarriage. and Hey presto pregnancy is gone with minimal damage to womb.
Of course there is the emotional/mental aspect. The decision to abort isn’t beans I’m sure, so counseling is available if you need it. Or if you prefer, you and your conscience can sort it out. Interestingly contrary to popular opinion about the guilt, I have read personal stories of women who say it was the best decision they made. They just did what they gotta do.
I appreciate the wonder of conception. I would prefer/wish that every child conceived lives to contribute to the world and tell their story. But I am also ready to accede that that is in Planet Utopia. Pregnancy outside marriage has always been nuanced with shame even in Biblical times. But this is not 500AD and we have to evolve our thinking.
In most developed countries, abortion is available on demand (some even force it on you – China) but they also make it easy for you to be make pro-life choices. Single mothers get benefits if jobless, tax concessions, extended maternity days, benefits for the child, the school puts her education on hold till she is able to resume etc etc.
Though i look askance at reality shows like “16 and pregnant” I acknowledge the messages like ‘pregnancy is life changing but it is not the end of the world’, moreover by celebrating those girls and their babies they are telling us that pregnancy is a beautiful thing.
In most developed countries, abortion is available on demand (some even force it on you – China) but they also make it easy for you to be make pro-life choices. Single mothers get benefits if jobless, tax concessions, extended maternity days, benefits for the child, the school puts her education on hold till she is able to resume etc etc.
Though i look askance at reality shows like “16 and pregnant” I acknowledge the messages like ‘pregnancy is life changing but it is not the end of the world’, moreover by celebrating those girls and their babies they are telling us that pregnancy is a beautiful thing.
Then you come to Africa/Nigeria or insert *typical African country* and the story changes.
It is bad enough being 18 and pregnant and facing the devil and the deep blue sea - angry parents, suspension from school and rejection by sperm donor (eejit) – but you now have to face the traumatic and shameful experience that abortion is in Africa and go to some unsterilised cesspool because abortion is illegal in your country and this is the only thing you can afford.
What do we gain from the deaths that happen through botched abortions?
Why should a woman in terminating a pregnancy lose her womb and ability to reproduce in future as well or worse die?
Why do we want a 38-45 year old woman to go through a 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th pregnancy endangering her life, increasing her chances of having a child with Down’s syndrome when she could have simply terminated at 7weeks?
What do you do when IUD fails you, cause it does?
What do you do when you have a husband who refuses to undergo vasectomy or use condom?
What do you do when you can’t afford contraception or its not easily available?
What do you do when you face losing your job?
Why should a young girl be expected to bear a child she is emotionally, physically, financially and mentally unable to care of. Yes, she had sex. Premarital sex, plenty of it or little. Must we punish her? And punish the next generation because believe me, the child she bears is going to continue to bear the shame of illegitimacy from our loving and tolerant African society (tongue in cheek).
In Nigeria abortion is a crime. According to Section 228 of the Criminal Code “any person who, with intent to procure miscarriage of a woman whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years”.
While Section 229 of Criminal Code provides that “any woman who, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, whether she is or is not with a child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years”.Interpretation: A woman pregnant from rape cannot abort. A woman who finds out she is carrying a deformed baby cannot abort. Chemists, , pharmacists, ogogoro seller, doctor are all liable to 7 years imprisonment if caught.
Reality: Unsafe abortion is a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity in Nigeria, accounting for 30–40% of maternal deaths. The abortion rate in Nigeria is 25 per 1000 women aged 15–44 years and there are about 610,000 pregnancy terminations annually. (link here)
Italy, a predominantly Catholic country with a ruling Christian Democratic Party liberalized its Abortion laws since 1978. The said law, considered as the most liberal Abortion Law in the world, allows any woman from 18 years upward to freely seek an abortion at a private or public institution during the first 90 days of pregnancy. Under the said Italian Law, abortions can be sought on the premises of health, economic, social, family, or psychological reasons.(link here)
Interpretation:
Abortion on demand! Women have their reproductive rights upheld.
Reality: Italy tops the Table with the lowest maternal mortality rate in the world 3.9 deaths per 100,000 live births
Nigeria is #162nd with 608 deaths per 100,000 live births (unsafe abortion causes 182-243deaths per 100,000)
Ghana is #145th with 405 deaths per 100,000 live births (link here)
If this talk about Unsafe abortion and maternal mortality ratios etc still sounds like Greek, Kindly watch this
A man who has never read Grey’s anatomy or undergone any form of medical training has the unbridled opportunity to use the crudest methods to dip his hands and unsterilised instruments into the most intimate part of a woman.
As if that’s not bad enough, she is raped.
He has been providing these services for 15 years. 260 women per year X 15 years (using an average of 5 patients per week) is 3900 women aborting and raped.
And this is just one quack. Multiply that by a 1000 quacks and we have to admit that we can’t let this continue.
This is small Ghana. 18 million population . Wanna do the Maths on Nigeria?
I hear you Ezigbo Nne!! but you are talking from two sides of your mouth. Reproductive rights must be unconditional. A woman either has rights over her body or she doesn’t - right to have 10 children, 1 child or none - and the right to demand the best medical services to uphold this right.
We are not much better than the countries that stone a woman to death for committing adultery. By letting them die at the hands of butchers we are doing exactly the same thing.
Live and let live. Live and let live.
