One theme resonated stridently at the workshop and it was the fact that Women have right to their body autonomy in as much as they are the people that bear the brunt in the case of unexpected pregnancies.
In addition was right to abortion. They argued that they
were not promoting abortion but women should be allowed when a pregnancy
possesses a danger to the woman. Aside that, they also argued that apart from
such extreme cases government should also consider other social and personal
issues best known to the woman to carry out abortion if she so desires. In as
much as the women do not advocate wholesale abortion they stressed the need to
save women from unsafe abortion due to stigma.
Part of the mandates of the workshop was to find out
those institutions inhibiting women from having autonomy of their bodies as
well as finding solutions to them, and topping discussions were religion,
culture, community, non-existence of accessible and affordable health care
facilities, as well as absence of well trained medical personnel and security
challenges.
The workshop in the end proffered solutions to the numerous challenges discussed; among which were
legislative enactments to address constraints hindering women who have reasons
to do abortion, ensuring good health and reproductive health facilities that
are not just accessible but must also be affordable; adequate manpower
competent enough to handle abortion related cases; addressing security and
judicial challenges, reorienting communities and religious organizations to
become involved in openly addressing issues of abortion on a more dispassionate
manner so that even their members would not die avoidable dates resulting from
unsafe abortions.
According to Omodele Ibitoye, Founder Irise and
Convener said “Inhibitions make people carry out abortion secretly and that can
lead to all that we feared, all the myths people talk about abortion as a
result of people doing abortion secretly in unsafe environment, by unskilled
practitioners.”
She said individuals, laws, religions pose challenges
especially in Nigeria and Africa that are very religious and traditional.
“There are lots of cultural and religious myths surrounding abortion, they make
people feel that abortion is unsafe. That is another reason unsafe abortion is
on the increase and people are losing their lives.”
Speaking as a professional counselor on importance
of listening to women with abortion stories Ibitoye said “I am not trained to
advise, I am trained to help people to discharge on oppression and on hurts.
Everybody was born intelligent, people are intelligent enough to figure out
solutions to whatever issues they go through, but because the society has told
us we are not intelligent enough, that is why we run around seeking advice.
“What I do as a counselor is to train the trainer, if
a woman walks up to me and said, I have abortion problems my job is to listen
to her with rapt attention, believing her story, because it is her story, I have
no right to discriminate or condemn her, everybody wants to be listened to, if
all can take time to listen to each other I think the world would be a
beautiful place,” Ibitoye stressed.
She disclosed that no two stories are the same, “No
two stories are the same, no matter how similar they are. I advise when someone
comes to you with abortion story, unsafe abortion story or a botched abortion
story; helping them discharging on the hurt and helping them take charge of
their lives, they will re-emerge and regain their intelligence and figure out
solutions to whatever they are going through. Helping them heal is more
important.”
On the permission for abortion by law in Nigeria
she said “I want to correct the impression that abortion is not legal in Nigeria,
it is legal but it has legal restrictions, and these restrictions are not fair
to women and girls, for example in the northern part of Nigeria, where there is
insurgency and women are being raped, where a child of eleven years is raped,
and you know children’s body are not developed enough to carry a full time
pregnancy. Because abortion has restrictions, these little children were meant
to carry the pregnancy, and a lot of them lost their lives because of these
legal restrictions.
“My advice to government is to make laws that will
make women have access to good contraceptive information, good health care
services, abortion care services, I think that will help reduce the incidence
of unsafe abortion and mortality in Nigeria.
Ibitoyo also spoke on role of Irise in empowering
women “What is important to us is to help individuals grow, empower women and
men with the skills to help the society, an empowered people build strong
society. Every year we empower people, teaching people counseling skills, men
and women with a view to go into the society, communities and help others heal
from whatever thing they are going through.
“From internalized abortion stigma, and help them
understand that abortion is not illegal, little drops of water can make a
mighty ocean, so when we educate 20, 30 women, equip them with right tools to
go into the society, we empower and train
the trainer who can go to the communities and train others.
She said that a lot of women live in fear, “women
should be empowered, it takes a lot of efforts to bring out Nigerian women, a
lot of them are afraid, they would say their husbands might not like it, a lot
of women are still living in fear, because of what religion tells us”
She decried the role of some medical professionals on
issue of abortion “We went for advocacy and we talked to a lot of doctors and
these doctors because of religious beliefs threw away medical ethics and began
to preach to us that abortion is a sin, so when a woman wants access to safe
medical care and abortion, she goes through a doctor and a doctor said
according to my religion or my culture what you are trying to do is a sin, you
have killed that woman, the next thing for her to do is to commit suicide. So
religious myth and cultural myth should be done away with and women should be
given body autonomy.
Success John, a researcher on Institutional Slavery
and also Facilitator at the workshop delivered a paper on Telling Your Story;
while Mary Jane another facilitator had a paper on Ending Stigmatization.
Juliet Ifunanya, a participant said of her experience
“I am excited to be part of this workshop today. It is a big privilege because
most women outside still live in the dark and they don’t have this kind of
experience, we came out and pour our mind on something.
“I say kudos to the organizers and the women behind
this innovation, they deserve some accolade. It is meant to make women know
their right, not in a negative way but positively. Even if you cannot give
advice, the listening aspect is there, when somebody listens to you, you pour
out the pains inside you. As I am going out, I am also going to bring that
positive attitude to my friends, my peers, whomever I need to listen to and
with the watchword here: be my sister’s keeper, that is what I learnt today.”
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