By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
A big question mark hangs over the ‘Safe Abortion Act 2015’, which is stuck somewhere between State House and Parliament.
President Ernest Bai Koroma refused to sign the Act into law under pressure from the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone (IRCSL).
The original name of the bill, when it was initiated in 2010 by the Planned Parenthood Association of Sierra Leone (PPASL), an organisation that specialises in sexual and reproductive health of women and girls, was the ‘Medical Termination of Pregnancy bill’. It was later changed to the ‘Termination of Pregnancy Bill’, and today we have the ‘Safe Abortion Act 2015’.
This repeated change of names of the piece of legislation is testimony to the controversy it commands.
The stance of the IRCSL is believed to be influenced heavily by the Catholic Church which is vociferously opposed to abortion.
The church argues that the right to life begins from the time of conception on to the time of birth. It says it is a sacred and fundamental right that should not be unjustifiably taken away from anyone whether they consent or not.
This argument of the Catholic Church is in agreement with Subsection 1 of Section 16 Act No. 6 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991. It reads: “No person shall be deprived of his life intentionally...”
Although this right is not absolute as there are exceptions provided by the same section, it recognises the right to life as a sacred right on which all other rights depend.
The Safe Abortion Act seeks to render sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Persons Act of 1861 into a nullity. As it stands, the said sections criminalise the act of any woman who being with a child administers to herself any poison or noxious thing to procure her own miscarriage or any other person who seeks to terminate the pregnancy of another woman, respectively. The law itself is an Act of the British parliament which consolidated provisions relating to offences against the persons which includes offences of violence from a number of earlier statutes into a single Act.
Against God
For the most part, these provisions were incorporated into the Act with little or no variation into their phraseology. It is one of a group of Acts sometimes referred to as the Criminal Law Consolidation Act of 1861. Sierra Leone at that time, being a British colony, became subject to this law. Even when we achieved independence in 1961 and republicanism in 1971, no effort was made by successive governments to modify the law though the United Kingdom has made several modifications culminating into the promulgation of one of the laws known as Abortion Act of 1967.
With the seeming stalemate surrounding the ‘Safe Abortion Act 2015’, Politico sought the views of the public.
One of them is Maseray Kamara of Texaco in the east end of Freetown. The housewife with two children is strongly opposed to the passage of the Act into law. She told Politico that a woman was created by God to give birth to children and that it’s a great sin if anyone attempted to damage the child prior to their birth.
“I don’t want to commit sin of abortion against God,” she said.
Mohamed Sesay of Dan Street, a father of three children, believes that the reason behind the Act is to control the population. He said although things were difficult, unborn children should not be killed for that. He called on government to exploit the resources of the nation and create better living standards for the people.
Musu Kabia of Mends Street, central Freetown, is also averse to the law arguing that if it was passed into law, it would serve as a licence for girls to engage in rampant abortions. She believes the issue of unsafe abortion can be addressed if parents played their role as guardians and ensure their children focus more attention on their schooling.
“I think parents should properly advise their children to pay attention to studies and not to men,” Musu said.
Religious leaders are not letting the debate go on without having their say. The IRCSL is scheduled to meet this Thursday to come up with its final position on the piece of legislation.
But already it is predictable what their stance would be. And this is very clear even in the streets.
Imam Alhassan Kabba of the Bassarian Mosque in Wellington, Freetown, had this to say: “God has warned everybody to respect the life of another person for the provision of everyone is from God. The last sermon of the prophet compels everyone to see the life of another person sacred,”
Pastor Kemokoh Conteh of the Maranatha Pentecostal Church at Taylor Street, Old Road, said the law was “irrelevant” for the nation. “God create us to multiply and not to destroy lives,” Pastor Conteh said.
It’s hard to see anyone in the public who supports the bill.
Population dividend
In spite of this widespread public opposition, key stakeholders are pushing for the Act to be signed into law.
Pro-abortion arguments have been advanced by these stakeholders to convince the public to see the need for the passage of the bill into law. The Behaviour Change and Advocacy Officer, PPASL, Sullaiman Fogbawa, said along with their partners they intend to press on. Fogawa presented a grim image of girls dying of post-abortion complications.
“Why Can’t we have an environment that can stop treating post abortion complications,” he asked rhetorically.
He said there was a strong correlation between teenage pregnancy and abortion and that since the teenage pregnancy prevalence rate was high, there was bound to be a high rate of abortion in the country.
Fogbawa made reference to the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) report titled: ‘A Glimpse into the World of Pregnancy, 2010’ which indicates that 34% of girls in Sierra Leone are pregnant annually. This implies that one in every four girls is bound to be pregnant before attaining the age of 18 since the country is struggling with early marriage, he said.
Similarly, he cited the Demographic Health Survey of 2013 which speaks volumes of teenage pregnancy in the country.
Fogbawa said any nation that wanted to achieve prosperity must bank on “population dividend”, which he described as the greatest benefit a country stands to gain if it lowers its fertility rate. He cited Singapore, Indonesia, Malasia, etc, as countries that have become the envy of the world in terms of their prosperity because they lay emphasis on population dividend.
Fogbawa said Britain, from which Sierra Leone inherited it current 1861 law, had reviewed the legislation about four or five times. “Sierra Leone should not bank on an old law that does not truly represent the development aspirations of the country,” he cautioned.
(C) Politico 19/01/16
