By Foday Moriba Conteh
As part of their continuous efforts in agitating for making Safe Abortion a choice and promoting sexual reproduction in the country, the People’s Alliance for Reproductive Health Advocacy (PARHA) has called for immediate action to be taken geared towards decriminalizing abortion and make accessible, comprehensive safe abortion care in the country. That disclosure was made during a well-attended press conference held on Tuesday 28th September, 2021 at CARL-SL Office on Circular Road in Freetown.
Speaking during the ceremony, the Vice Chairperson for the People’s Alliance for Reproductive Health Advocacy (PARHA) Coalition, Madam Theresa Ojong, noted that the coalition joined the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners worldwide to commemorate the International Safe Abortion Day.
She noted that this day was first celebrated as a day of action for decriminalization of abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean in 1990 by the Campaña 28 September. In 2011, she added that the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) declared 28 September as an International Day.
The PARHA Chairperson stated how Sierra Leone records a very high maternal mortality rate in West Africa maintaining that, unsafe abortion resulting in complications, is one of the key drivers and that high maternal mortality is a key barrier to development as increased mortality affects the education of surviving children, leads to financial instability of households as well as the increased mortality of children.
She revealed that currently, Sierra Leone has one of the highest reported maternal mortality ratio in the world with 717 mothers dying for every 100,000 live births (SLDHS, 2018).
“As we join the global community in commemorating this day, PARHA urges the Government of Sierra Leone to scale up efforts to eliminate preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, ensure quality sexual and reproductive health services, including access to abortion and contraceptive services, address violence against women and girls, and sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents,” she urged.
Madam Theresa Ojong pointed out that at the moment Sierra Leone is plagued with a number of barriers to a woman’s choice in respect of safe abortion, including the restrictive legal environment in respect of abortion which she said is criminalized under the 1861 Offences against the Person Act and the Pharmacy and Drugs Act 2001, stating that the laws restrict access to safe services, increase stigma and criminalize women and providers and that unsafe abortion takes a considerable toll on women, families, communities and the larger health system in Sierra Leone.
She also revealed that religious opposition, moral, social, traditional & cultural barriers (the myths and misconceptions around abortion, Family Planning and contraception) leads people to do abortion clandestinely making unsafe abortions very common furthering that healthcare personnel spend more time to treat a case of unsafe abortion complication than to provide a safe abortion care service, adding that post-abortion care treatments cost more than a direct safe abortion care.
The PARHA Chairperson maintained that in the Medium-Term National Development Plan, the Sierra Leone Government commits itself to leveraging opportunities to endorse the supremacy of human rights protection, particularly women’s and girls’ rights through, launching a national programme for sexual and reproductive health for adolescents to reduce teenage pregnancy and the alarming maternal mortality, and increasing opportunities for pregnant girls and teenage mothers to have access to education through appropriate means.
However, she said that as a coalition they are calling for immediate action to decriminalize abortion, and make accessible comprehensive safe abortion care, stating that individuals who can become pregnant and who seek medical abortion care – women and adolescent girls – should be provided with the necessary information to make an informed decision about their reproductive health, rights, bodies and futures.
Madam Theresa Ojong concluded by calling on everyone to join the coalition to advocate for women and girls’ access to comprehensive abortion care in order to avoid an increase in unsafe abortions.
Citizen can only support the enactment of safe motherhood if the message is well taking down to our people more of the grassroots through one on one , community meetings, etc explaining to them both advantage and disadvantage of safe motherhood. As our tradition and region is the biggest barrier.