There is no gain saying that unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion and terrible abortion laws are serious issues in women reproductive health/ rights in Nigeria. With an estimated 600, 000 abortions performed yearly, teenagers who constitute about 20 percent of the population are worse hit.
Demographic statistics reveal that teenagers between the ages of 15 and 21 years are responsible for about 60 percent of abortion cases in the country hence making unsafe abortions a major contributory factor to maternal deaths in Nigeria.
A major factor which is limiting safe abortion is the restrictive abortion law in Nigeria which only allows termination of pregnancy to save the life of the mother. The major drawback in the law is its inability to specify who should carry out an abortion, a practice still being regarded as unlawful despite being enshrined in the country’s laws and international documents to which Nigeria was a member.
There are laws and policies such as the Vienna Declaration on Human Rights 1993, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action of 1994, the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) of 1995 and Beijing + 5 Outcomes Document 2000, the Nigerian Constitution of 1999, the Criminal Code and Penal Code Laws of Nigeria, the Matrimonial Causes Act (1990), the National Policy on Women (2001), the National Health Policy., the Social Development Policy (1989), the Millennium Development Goals and the Criminal Code Section 228 to 230 among others, all supporting safe abortions and maternal health at large.
For Okpete Kanu, President, African Foundation for Pro-Life Education, Counselling and Care (FLECC), the Assembly of the African Union in meeting in Maputo, Mozambique in July 2003 adopted a document titled “Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Right of women in Africa.”
Otherwise known as the Maputo Agreement, a treaty which came in to effect November 2005 and as at June 2007, 43 nations signed and 21 have formally ratified including Nigeria, Kanu stated that the Maputo Protocol passed a referendum on female genital mutilation (FGM), certain parts of the charter x-rayed abortion and its legal implications
In her words” abortion is the intentional or unintentional expulsion of the pre-born child from the womb at anytime after conception (fertilization) and before the natural birth process is completed. However, it is intentional when it is purposefully induced. It is also unintentional when it is not willfully induced as in the case of miscarriage. What is medically referred to as an inevitable abortion is a condition in pregnancy marked by vaginal bleeding and dilation of the cervix that indicates an impending unpreventable miscarriage”
Taking a cursory look at the entire scenario, safe abortion in Nigeria is still regarded as a taboo. This is coming at the heels of the fact that several policy documents were adopted in the last five years on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Though commendable as this may be, it does not constitute legally enforceable standards.
However, they merely serve as administrative guidelines promising much, but need a lot of government’s commitment and political will to interpret the realities of maternal health in the country positively.
Going further, the call for genuine political will expressed in adequate interventions is lacking. No doubt, the absence of political will on the part of Government will only continue to send our women to their early graves in large numbers. But despite all these, medical service providers, journalists and lawmakers, should ensure that that the obnoxious law is reversed to save the women.
The legal indication for abortion is quite restrictive, therefore making unsafe abortion a silent and persistent pandemic. The need make access to abortion services important for women and girls who are victims of sexual violence, rape and incest is desired.
A review of the restrictive abortion laws due to the human rights implications of unsafe abortion is a must. The Criminal Code Section 228 to 230 regards abortion as a felony, crime against the country. The code reads in part: “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. Any person who unlawfully supplies to or procures for any person anything whatever, knowing that it is intended to be unlawfully used to procure the miscarriage of a woman, whether she is or is not with child, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for three years.”
No doubt, social stigma and political pressure render many health care providers unwilling to offer abortion services even within the limits of the law. Calls have been made in recent times by change agents under the reproductive-health networks and partnerships that have been functional to ensure that abortion law is reformed to include additional legal indications such as rape, incest and protection of the health of the woman.
Exerts said improved access to safe, legal services would greatly reduce the number of woman’s deaths and injuries caused by unsafe abortion. Efforts were made by IPAS, a woman reproductive health/ rights in 1987, when it introduced Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) into public teaching hospital and the private sector.
The body had previously in 1996 worked with the Federal Government officials and colleagues to develop a national strategy for expanding Post-Abortion Care (PAC) services and to set up a team to establish and manage the PAC net. This coalition of representatives from government, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and civil society groups meets regularly to share knowledge and discuss tactics to improve the reproductive health and rights of women.
It is noteworthy to state that the criminal codes of the southern states and the penal codes of the Northern States are the major statutes about abortion in the country. The codification of Sharia Law in 1999, most Penal Codes has been amended to reflect Sharia-based values and standards.
Alexander Chiejina
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