Whose life matters more, mother’s or unborn child?

Njoki Karuoya

Following the press conference last week by medical professionals (doctors, obstetricians/gynaecologists, nurses and health care providers) who were protesting the inclusion of the clause; ‘life begins at contraception’ into the Harmonised Draft Constitution, a flurry of emails from supporters of pro-life and pro-choice viewpoints have flooded my mailbox.

Strong, compelling arguments have been put forth by both pro-life and pro-choice believers, a clear indication that abortion continues to be a controversial issue.

Can you imagine supporters of pro-life meeting face-to-face with placard-waving pro-choice supporters? The physical, emotional and psychological clash would call for the urgent intervention of riot police. I guess, therefore, that the most peaceful platform to interact is here. So, without much more ado, let’s give it up for the pro-choice voices:

Pro-choice

From Fida Kenya:

"It is disturbing that the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) decided to include abortion language in the Constitution. Abortion is a contentious issue and has resulted in making the constitutional review process unnecessarily acrimonious. The current constitution does not make reference to abortion as it is not constitutional language.

"Kenya is a signatory to human rights instruments including the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, which allows abortion when the health of the pregnant mother is at risk and in cases of rape, defilement and sexual assault.

The regulation of abortion should be left to legislation and not the Constitution. Thus, Article 25 of the PSC Draft and 31 of the Harmonized Draft Constitution should be amended to read: ‘Everyone has the right to life’."

From Muthoni Ndungu, a human rights activist:

"As I listen to the debate on the beginning of life, I wonder if the PSC took into consideration the health, life and safety of our women and girls seriously. Having heard the shocking statistics of the number of women and girls who die from abortion-related complications each year and how this contributes greatly to maternal deaths, I think not.

"Over 300,000 abortions take place each year in Kenya. These, medical providers say, include both miscarriages and induced. The latter can either be an illegal unsafe abortion or the termination of a pregnancy when the life of a mother is in danger.

"No woman or girl takes abortion lightly or without thinking it through carefully. No one has said that abortion is the best option.

"We have read of vulnerable women and girls dying from abortion-related complications. Unfortunately, Kenya suffers limited access to family planning and with restrictive laws, illegal unsafe abortions are often seen as the only way out. We all know that abortions are taking place each day irrespective of circumstance or situation.

"Most of us prefer to complain and condemn victims of unsafe abortions from our comfort zones. We refuse to pay attention to the fact that a family has lost a mother, daughter or sister. We forget that it could happen to our families.

"Let us not lose sight of the fact that women in this country are dying from a preventable condition. Incidences of unsafe abortions are an indication that something is amiss. Let us address that first."

Pro-life

Now, let’s give it up for the pro-life voices:

From Dr Melanie Miyanji:

"Life begins at conception and there are no two ways about it. Stating that life begins at any other point in time is only an excuse to end life, which opens the way to abortion and this is murder.

"The views expressed by some doctors are not shared by many of us in the medical profession and are not shared by all women.

"Legalising abortion? This is downright murder of little, innocent human beings. The right to human life is the very essence of human rights, which we all claim to stand for. Yet there are those among us who intend to take this right away from future citizens!

"Abortion, whether done at home, in the backstreet or on in an operating room is one and the same thing, a crime of murder, and this is a sin against natural law.

"Abortion goes against our oath as doctors and degrades the dignity of our profession. The argument that an abortion is done to save a mothers life has no substance as no doctor can predict the outcome of a pregnancy in relation to a mother’s health.

"It is our duty as doctors to save lives and with advanced medical science, this is possible. Let us uphold our values, ethics and the sanctity of life. Women who have had abortions live in misery, torment and are haunted by guilt for having killed their babies."