A feature report published by Al Jazeera English has shed light recently on the different issues facing Nigerian women when it comes to terminating pregnancies; most notable the life-threatening consequences resulting from abortions being illegal in the country.
Here is my third longread piece for Al Jazeera. I explored how the harsh anti-abortion laws in Nigeria create an abortion black market which kills an estimated 6000 women in Nigeria annually. I hope we confront this violence perpuated against women in??#LegalizeAbortion!!!! https://t.co/Jp5q2lvnmq
— OA (@OpeAdetayo1) February 9, 2021
The long read written by Nigerian journalist Ope Adetayo has triggered quite a strong social media interaction, showing a deep interest in the topic amongst social media commentators in Nigeria.
While she explored stories of a number of women, who have gone through unsafe abortions in the country over the years, administered by unlicensed practitioners who can not, otherwise, carry out abortions in light of the legal ban on it, the article has reignited the social conversation over Nigeria's need to reconsider such laws.
@OpeAdetayo1 Thank you for this piece on the issue of illegal #abortions in #Nigeria. Excellent journalism in bringing this ‘hidden in plain sight’ issue, that is costing us 6,000 Nigerian women lives a year, to light. https://t.co/K8KbHmCSFb
— R. Evon Benson-Idahosa (@findyrPath) February 10, 2021
Abortion is indispensable healthcare, and healthcare should not be criminalised. Doing so puts a huge demographic - women and girls - in jeopardy. According to the article, out of 22,000 to 31000 annual global abortion-related deaths, up to 6000 occur in Nigeria.
— Operation Legalise Abortion (@OLAbortion) February 10, 2021
Some social media users have especially highlighted the price Nigerian women are paying as a result of abortions not being legalized in the country, including about 6000 deaths reported annually amongst mothers.
Calls to legalize abortions in Nigeria have mentioned that laws that criminalized pregnancy terminations were put during the colonial era by the British rule, calling on today's legislators to consider more modern laws that serve today's needs.
