I was asked where I stood on abortion in Africa….here’s my response…..
I’m definitely pro-choice and hate to see men legislating on matters which they know nothing about.
Just a couple of months ago the Sierra Leonean government tried to pass a bill legalizing first term terminations and it was vetoed by male religious leaders on the basis that it’s a sin. Meanwhile that country has the highest rate of maternal deaths in Africa and since the war a steady increase in incest and rape.
It is unfair that men get to decide such matters without much consideration for the mother – who is essentially then victimized twice.
The uncomfortable truth is that even if it’s not rape or incest, a woman should have the option to say ‘I’m not ready – I cannot handle this’.
A woman having unwanted babies is the fastest path to poverty and misery.
The other day I saw a video of 2 men “fishing” a baby out of a river. It had been abandoned by its mother.
When we force people, who are not ready to be mothers, into motherhood we sentence the child to a lifetime of neglect at best and outright abuse at worse.
Its unwanted children that become victims of sexual, physical, emotional and psychological abuse. Its unwanted children that become thieves, murderers and rapists.
During the first term, the fetus is barely a fetus and if i was a fetus I’d rather be terminated than condemned to a life of misery.
There is a reason China had its one child policy and African governments should be embracing terminations en masse to stop poverty if nothing else.
I don’t understand how you can care so much about some cells the size of a grape in a woman’s body but you can’t bring yourself to care about the abject poverty and the miserable life a huge chunk of your population is condemned to.
9jafeminista 
“Its unwanted children that become thieves, murderers and rapists”.
Not true.
At the risk of being cliche, the world needs Jesus and kind hearted people
Who are not desperate to be like the rest of the world.
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Unfortunatly there is plenty of scientific evidence to suggest that unwanted children fair worse in life and are more likely to struggle with drug use, poverty and mental health issues like depression. And poverty and drug use will definitly lead to other undesirable behavious such as stealing, raping and violence. These are undisputed facts. I cannot speak to the Jesus comment tho I agree religion can provide a moral compass for some – however these days religion can cause just as much harm as it does good just look at what the fundamentalists in each religion do – boko haram is up north slaughtering people in the name of their religion and just the other day a gay man was killed by a christian for being homosexual in Ondo state.
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Wow. I don’t think I’ve read a more callous statement than this: “African governments should be embracing terminations en masse to stop poverty if nothing else.”
Ms Bunmi Tella, your opinion is so scary that I hope you never get into a position of power and authority where you control the lives of millions of people. How does mass abortion solve poverty????
Rather than encouraging and advocating for mass termination (shudder), how about educating both men and women on safe sex, birth control, or options for adoption and fostering? How about holding governments accountable so that they provide adequate healthcare for everybody including pregnant women and young children? How about ensuring that the government in power puts programmes and policies in place to END poverty, instead of killing unborn babies?
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Wunmi I stand by my statement. It goes without saying that prevention is better than cure. Access to birth control and an educated population is exactly the best way to deal with that but we have neither in Africa. Wars and unwanted children are the 2 biggest causes of abject poverty in Africa – please read the bottom billion by Paul Collier. Hilary Clinton famously said if we educated all our girls we would cut poverty in half. Thats a big deal. No government has ever had any policy, aid or idea that could do that. Educated women have less children and have skills to support the ones they do have. In Africa not only do we not have the means to educate all girls we dont even have the social capital – most girls have no say in when they marry, who they marry and/or how many children they have. It stands to reason then that if a girl/woman is pregnant and wants to terminate that pregnancy its in everyones interest to allow her to do so. Therefore African governments should not ban abortion on the basis of religion, culture or some hypocritical sense of morality. This does not mean I am advocating we go out King Harold style and start terminating preganacies though I enjoyed your obvious flair for the dramatic – it just means they should ALL ( en masse meaning all african governments not all pregnancies!) should support legislation (not pregnant women) by passing laws legalising abortion.
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We hope your questions has been answered Wunmi
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Another dump ass post by a not so bright know it all. Wunmi hit the nail on the head
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Learn how to spell before coming here to troll. Fuck off sir.
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Wow! I am shocked at some of the callous and ignorant statements in this piece. It’s sad that an article that had potential to add value to an important issue has to be dismissed because of callous statements and weak and ignorant arguments. Whether or not abortions are legalised poverty will remain, thieves, rapists and murderers will still exist. It is terrible that you decided to place blame for these atrocities on people who did not choose their life circumstances. This “scientific evidence” you speak of is questionable and reeks of pseudo science. Simple logic should have told you that poverty and crime are not dependent on abortion.
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