A continent known for its culture and tradition, Africa faces realities today, not necessarily conforming to its socio-cultural values. Indeed, voluntary interruption of pregnancy is still considered a taboo subject in this country The prohibition of access to abortion thus remains the norm on the black continent. Therefore, it is a terrible advance, a revolution that African countries come to law in favor of abortion. Very restrictive and even illegal on the black continent, abortion (Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy) remains almost totally forbidden in a minority of countries throughout the world. By voting the law that modifies and completes the law 2003-04 of March 3, 2003 on sexual health and reproduction in the Benin Republic, the country has crossed the red line in terms of preservation and conservation of human life. Even if Benin’s current law aims to secure and control abortion and define the specific conditions for its practice, it must still be noted that this is an incitement to the culture of death. If we assume that life begins at conception and must be protected, the practice of abortion in this case implies an intentional crime or a premeditated but legalized criminal act.
Sense of life in Africa
In the African context, where life is regarded as the most precious good on earth and children wealth, a blessing from the ancestors, respect for the sanctity of life, especially that of the innocent, is not taken into account at all. Pope Benedict XVI approaches the issue not only from a religious point of view but from a typically African angle. “ In African worldview, he says, life is seen as a reality that embraces and includes ancestors, the living and the unborn, all creation and creatures: those who speak and the silent, those who think and those who have no thoughts. The visible and invisible universe is considered as a living environment for humans, but also as a platform for togetherness where past generations invisibly rub shoulders with present generations, who are themselves mothers of future generations. “An analysis that denotes the sacred nature of human life in an African environment which is beyond the real and involves an invisible world, the metaphysical. It is therefore clear that for the African, everything contributing to human life, its conservation, its protection, fulfills or increases the vital potential of the individual and the community is good. In contrast, any act presumed to be harmful to individuals or to the community is considered to be bad. When we open the door by making abortion legal, even for “material, educational, professional or moral distress” reasons , we give the African woman the power to decide whether or not to bring a child to life, which is considered an ” evil” in Africa. The Blessed Pope John Paul II goes on to say in the same line of thought. « Africans respect life that is conceived and born. They value life and reject the idea that it can be removed, even when so-called progressive civilizations want to lead them down that path. However, practices contrary to life are imposed on them through economic systems that only serve the selfish interests of the rich. »
Abortion’s situation in Africa
In most African countries, abortion is still legally prohibited. The Criminal Code of most African countries imposes heavy sanctions on those who engage in this phenomenon. However, abortion is possible in most African countries when the pregnancy endangers the life and health of the pregnant woman, a result of a rape or an incestuous relationship, or when the child to be born has a serious health condition. This restriction limits the phenomenon a bit from a legal point of view. However, in Africa, the practice of back-street abortions is a serious problem for both families and governments. In Benin, for example, a government report indicates that approximately 200 women die each year after complicated and unsafe abortions. As well as in others african countries. requiring a re-orientation of the law, from a legal point of view. By conditionally legalising abortion in Benin, Tunisia, Cape Verde, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, they are African nations that have reformed their laws in order to go beyond the legal criteria of the African Union regarding safe abortion in accordance with the Maputo Convention ratified by 52 countries. On the other hand, Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau and Djibouti are opposed to abortion and have conflicting laws to the Maputo Convention.
Which impact in african societies?
Considering that procreation is highly valued in African societies, abortion, whether legalised or not, not only poses mortality and health problems, but also serious social problems. When some states legalise the phenomenon, they encourage depravation of a continent struggling to preserve its values by young people. Besides, when some others States refuse to accept the evidence of unbridled sexuality among young people and take appropriate measures accordingly, they reject the idea of adapting to contemporary realities and may be complicit in the numerous deaths caused by clandestine abortion. Anyway, abortion, whether secret or under the conditions of law, remains a sensitive issue in African societies. One might even wonder whether legislation on abortion in Africa is not most often reminiscent of a colonial past or whether the African peoples are responsible enough to face all the challenges.
English translation of ” Viol en Afrique : La faute à la violée ou au violeur ?”, Eliane FATCHINA by Salima ALAGBE
