By Burnett Munthali
The push for abortion rights in Africa by western and northern countries and donors has been accused of manipulation, with attendees at the Family Watch International and Christian Council side event at the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 70th session in New York being informed that since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Egypt, Cairo, pro-choice advocates have been pushing for changes to abortion laws in Africa.
Former social and human rights diplomat at the Malawi Mission to the UN, Janet Karim, made a passionate appeal on the issue at the side event, titled “Justice and Equality begins in the Womb – Every Life deserves a Chance”.
In her presentation, titled “The Push for Abortion Rights in Africa,” Karim said that she learned the term to “Save the life of the mother or the life of the baby” as the times when abortion is or should be permissible, when she was a delegate to the Cairo 1994 ICPD, and she was incorporated as one of the speech writers for the statement by Malawi’s head of delegation, then Vice President Justin Malewezi.
Thirty-two years later, Karim said that she has through the years seen it as a powerful strategic push forward on the question of abortion, whether in a dictatorship or democratic government, without breaking from traditional or religious norms.
This has been a battle fought in the face of the western and donor push for abortion rights in Africa, with concerns that international donors are imposing their values on African countries, using branding, language and even dropping large sums of money to local civil society organizations.
According to Karim, the real battle is with international donors, especially those from the west and northern countries, who promote issues like LGBT rights, access to contraceptives, and abortion rights in countries like Malawi.
While most African countries still have various forms abortion laws, Zambia, Cape Verde, Tunisia, and South Africa the four allow abortion on demand out of the 54-country continent.
Karim’s address focused on pushing back against changes to abortion bans, resonating with many who oppose the push for abortion rights and other contentious issues, particularly in predominantly Christian or predominantly Islamic countries.
On the other side, abortion is not permitted for any reason in 10 out of 54 African countries, including Angola, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Sao Tome, Mauritania, Principe, and Senegal.
Karim lamented that the 1994 concern for saving the life of the mother or the life of the baby, the latter concern (save the life of the baby) has been taken out in all countries’ abortion ban laws.
She also criticized the change of the word ‘mother: to women, saying human rights advocates find it simpler to push the rights point when talking about women as this encompasses more ways to push the human rights agenda.
Karim said that the term “woman” cuts out millions of girls that inadvertently find themselves to be pregnant (whether through child marriage, rape and other sexual violence cases).
She outlined the times when she has championed inclusion of the save the life of the mother or save the life of the baby, including when a mother is alive, but her unborn baby has died (no fetal heart beat), allowing an abortion to excavate the fetus, and when the woman has died, but the unborn fetus has a heartbeat, allowing an abortion to excavate the unborn baby.
Karim ended her presentation by making several forward paths, including the need for the wording “to save the life of the unborn baby” to be included in times when abortion is permissible, the importance of including men and boys in discussions on reproduction, and not using religion and tradition as villains when pushing for abortion bans.
Christian Council President Henk Jan praised Karim, saying, “It was a pleasure and a great honor to have Janet as speaker.
She has been a courageous woman, also usually joins the conversation during critical times.
Sharon Slatter, CEO of Family Watch International, praised Janet regarding her prior facilitation of UN negotiations on a CSW HIV girl child resolution wherein she insisted, in the face of great pressure against from the EU, of retaining a provision that encouraged young girls to “delay sexual debut” as a way of preventing HIV. For the record, Sharon Slatter didn’t mention contraceptives.
The CSW 70th session continues this week.
