Ipas > Arming African advocates for opposition

Arming African advocates for opposition

December 1, 2005

In Ethiopia, a change in the criminal code means that minors will be able to have safe, legal abortions. But anti-choice organizations are beginning to make inroads into the Horn of Africa nation. Photo courtesy of Peter Barker, Panos Pictures.

Facing a recent spate of anti-choice activism worldwide, Ipas trained African reproductive-health advocates on how to advance women’s health while countering opposition groups.

In late October, Ipas staff organized workshops in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Nairobi, Kenya. The participants consisted of activists, health-care professionals and other stakeholders from those countries and Uganda. With partners Catholics for a Free Choice and Planned Parenthood Federation America-International, they discussed the tactics of anti-choice groups; religion-based arguments that support sexual and reproductive rights; and strategies for collaborating with media, government and civil society.

As the only international women’s health nonprofit to focus solely on reducing unsafe abortion, Ipas is uniquely capable to help overseas allies come up with proactive messages so that they are not simply reacting to the often well-funded, U.S.-based opposition.

“Advocates cannot expect to encounter political and social willingness to discuss abortion constructively, particularly where it has been clandestine and legally restricted for generations. One major goal should be to transform the way abortion is viewed, so that people can address it openly and productively,” said Ipas Policy Director Charlotte Hord Smith.

Anu Kumar, Ipas Executive Vice President, said the programs, the first such program organized by Ipas, were a response to the stepped-up anti-choice presence in Africa and elsewhere.

“In the last year, we’ve seen opposition pop up in Nicaragua, Kenya and Ethiopia, as well as in Europe. It was clearly a wakeup call that we need to take them seriously and be better prepared. But in the past decade, we also saw positive momentum, with 15 countries liberalizing their abortion laws.”

This May, a revised criminal code went into effect in Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa nation that’s the continent’s second most populous country. It expanded the indications, or circumstances, in which abortion is permitted. The revisions were much-needed; each year, thousands of Ethiopian women die from abortion-related complications.

Kumar said: “It used to be a very limited law. Abortion is still in the penal code, but they recently liberalized the law. One of the most striking [changes] is that a woman can seek an abortion if she’s a minor” and physically or psychologically unprepared to raise a child.

Ethiopia’s challenge now will be in implementing the law and making sure all women have access to abortion care. (To hear more about the challenges of reproductive-health work in Ethiopia, click here to listen to Kumar discuss her recent trip to the country.)

In Kenya, delegates voted on a new constitution on Nov. 21. The draft document included language that life begins at conception and that abortion is not permitted, except when decreed by an act of Parliament. Yet, the draft also affirmed the individual’s right to health, including reproductive-health care.

Though the draft constitution was rejected, its defeat may have continuing implications for reproductive freedom in Kenya. After the referendum, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki dismissed his entire cabinet. That leaves room for a replacement health minister whose position on reproductive choice could steer national policy for years to come.

In Africa, high fertility rates, poor health infrastructure and restrictive abortion legislation often make a fatal combination. As opposition rises to safe abortion and reproductive freedom in the areas where they’re most needed, reproductive-health advocates must also amplify their voices.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258