By Engr. Jerry Okwuosa
I read with keen interest the advocacy of Dr. Abiola Akinyode-Afolabi writing on behalf of Women Advocates Research & Documentation Centre (WARDC) requesting for the legalization of abortion in Lagos. Her reason for this request is as follows:
“It gives women improved health-care services; sets guidelines on safe termination of pregnancies for legal indications; women have a right to their bodily integrity and to life; the guidelines are pushing to save women from preventable deaths and It will reduce maternal mortality”.
It is important to recall here that before the European union (EU) forced Ireland to legalize abortion a few years ago, Ireland and Chile have been two of the safest places in the World for pregnant mothers and their unborn children as they achieve lower maternal mortality rates (mmr) than even the United States, UK, France, Germany etc. W H O reports on mmr confirm a trend: countries with restricted abortion laws or who prohibit abortion out rightly have the lowest mmr in their regions. The WHO 2009 report informs that the nation with the lowest mmr in African is Mauritius whose laws are among the Continent’s most protective of the unborn. The report further shows how countries like Ethiopia that have decriminalized abortion in recent years in response to pressure have failed to lower their maternal death rates. Ethiopia’s mmr is 48 times higher than Mauritius’. Similarly, the WHO statistics for the South East Asia region show that Nepal, where there is no restriction on abortion, has the region’s highest mmr. The lowest in the region is Sri Lanka, which has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, with a rate 14 times lower than Nepal. It is not surprising therefore that Chile, which protects unborn life in its constitution is the country with the lowest mmr in South America and that the country with the highest mmr there is Guyana, with an mmr 30 times higher than Chile. Ironically, one of the two main justifications used in liberalizing Guyana’s law was to enhance the “attainment of safe motherhood” by eliminating deaths and complications associated with abortion. This is one of the arguments WARDC is using in Lagos. Evidence therefore abound that legalization of abortion in any country worsens its mmr. Check out the mmr of Ghana and Republic of South Africa before and after the legalization of abortion in those two African countries to confirm the evidence.
The Dublin Declaration (DD)
Unveiled at the International Symposium on Maternal Healthcare in Dublin Ireland in 2012, and has since been signed by over 2,000 medical experts, the Dublin Declaration (DD) states: “As experienced practitioners and researchers in obstetrics and gynaecology, we affirm that direct abortion – the purposeful destruction of the unborn child – is not medically necessary to save the life of a woman. We uphold that there is a fundamental difference between abortion and necessary medical treatments that are carried out to save the life of the mother, even if such treatment results in the loss of life of her unborn child. We confirm that the prohibition of abortion does not affect, in any way, the availability of optimal care to pregnant women.”
In the light of the above declaration, what then is the basis of WARDC’s claim that the STPG give women improved health-care services whereas the medical experts through DD “confirm that the prohibition of abortion does not affect, in any way, the availability of optimal care to pregnant women”.
As for WARDC’s assertion that the document in question sets guidelines on safe termination of pregnancies for legal indications, we argue that the so-called “safe” termination (abortion) of any pregnancy is an illusion because every abortion kills a baby and harms the mother, so how can such a procedure be declared safe AND that there are no legal indications for abortion in Nigeria because abortion remains illegal here.
Yes, it is only when they are not pregnant that women have a right to their bodily integrity. Once a woman becomes pregnant either by choice, accident, rape or incest, she can no longer lay claim to the integrity of her body because she no longer maintains one body but two bodies. As regards the right to life, this is always taken care of – whether or not a woman is pregnant – by doctors being trained (especially in countries where abortion is not legal) to see two patients and two lives (mother and child) in every pregnant woman that needs medical care.
WARDC’s claim that the guidelines are pushing to save women from preventable deaths is a false claim and a misrepresentation of facts because pregnancy is not a disease which if not treated may result in the death of the mother and fertility is not a curse but a blessing most African women desire. As the DD makes abundantly clear, “there is a fundamental difference between the lifesaving treatment a woman may need during pregnancy, and abortion, which is the direct and intentional taking of the life of the unborn child”.
Finally, WARDC claims that the STPG will reduce maternal mortality. Even if this claim were to be true, its immediate effect will be to increase infant mortality – abortions kill babies -. But this is unacceptable because human life has equal value; the mother’s life is not more valuable than the baby’s. If this claim is true it leaves the wrong impression that God blesses women with childbearing only to let them die of a disease called pregnancy. The claim is actually false because statistics show that abortion contributes 11% of maternal deaths in Nigeria i.e. if our women do not attempt abortion, 11% more of them will be alive to cuddle their new born babies. As a nation, we should, while enforcing the ban on abortion, focus attention on the other causes of death (89%) of our pregnant mothers as these include Haemorrhage (23%); Infection (17%); Obstructed labour, Eclampsia, Sepsis and Anemia (11% each) and Others (5%). Through the Dublin Declaration, obstetricians, gynecologists, neonatologists, pediatricians and other doctors from across the specialties of medicine and surgery confidently testify that “a country does not need legalized abortion in order to preserve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality” but here is WARDC misleading us to believe that legalized abortion will reduce maternal mortality. A principal signatory to the DD, Dr. Eoghan de Faoite, advises that “The first step towards turning today’s society against abortion, is to show it that legal abortion is not needed in maternal healthcare, that it is not needed to save women’s lives and that banning abortion does not bring about a rise in maternal mortality”.
WARDC and its culture of death co-promoters should listen to the voice of reason – pregnancy is not a disease and fertility is not a curse – and to the medical experts who took the time and trouble to educate the world by issuing the Dublin Declaration and see abortion for what it really is – a killer of innocent unborn babies and does enormous damage to their mothers – and work to restore the culture of life for which Africans are well known. If it is any consolation, their arguments are sound only if what is inside a pregnant mother is not a baby. It is only fair to state that a baby once conceived has a right to be born because the right to light is fundamental and inalienable.
Engr. Jerry Okwuosa.
Director-General, Project for Human Development (PHD)
