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True colours of “human rights defenders”

By Maxwell Nwokolo
25 June 2022   |   3:13 pm
The debate over abortion rights has raged in the United States in recent weeks, and finally Supreme Court has overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, Thatmeans the end of nearly 40 years of federal constitutional protection of a woman's right to abortion. The outcome of this abortion-rights fight not only cause a lasting earthquake…

The debate over abortion rights has raged in the United States in recent weeks, and finally Supreme Court has overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, Thatmeans the end of nearly 40 years of federal constitutional protection of a woman’s right to abortion. The outcome of this abortion-rights fight not only cause a lasting earthquake within American society, but also a severe shock in Africa.

For a long time, due to the influence of religious, cultural and other traditional factors, many African countries have strictly restricted female abortion, regarded abortion as a criminal act and stigmatized it. However, many African countries have long been plagued by war, poverty and social unrest. Many women get pregnant accidentally owing to lack of contraception or because of rape. In order to survive, they have to take the risk of choosing underground illegal clinics with poor medical and sanitary conditions to have abortions. Tens of thousands of African women die each year from complications of illegal abortions. This phenomenon is more commonplacein sub-Saharan Africa.

Many African countries have made progress on women’s right to abortion, thanks to a long campaign by rights activists. Benin, for example, legalized abortion up to 12 weeks into pregnancy in most cases in October 2021. He had previously allowed abortion only in cases of rape or incest, threats to the mother’s life and severe foetal abnormalities. Uganda and Kenya have also achieved some success in their campaigns against women’s abortion rights. But it was a fragile victory, and any external upheaval could turn the tide.

The federal court overturned “Roe v. Wade”decision, this kind of conservatism trend will soon spread to Africa, will directly affect the African lawmakers and policy makers, many already entrenched anti-abortion groups will take offensive attacks, fragile political balance will be broken, overnight after years around women abortion rights struggle and effort is likely to be written off. Thousands of women in Africa could once again be forced to go to underground clinics for abortions. That would be a new catastrophe for Africa, and especially for Its women. As the Lancet put it, “You can’t eliminate abortion, you’re just ending safe abortion”.

For a long time, the US has always touting itself as a “defender of human rights”. It often bosses around on human rights in Africa and other countries and interferes in other countries’ internal affairs under the pretext of protecting human rights. the bill has teetered on the brink several times in recent years due to women’s abortion rights in the United States have been repeatedly debated by conservatives, and The decision has made the issue to a climax. The reason is that it is hard evidence of the continuing failure of American democracy against a backdrop of societal breakdown and political polarization. The so-called “judicial independence” of the Supreme Court has been increasingly hijacked by party interests.

African countries should alert and realize at an early date that American politicians’ talk of human rights is nothing but a “chip” in their political dealings. They do not care about the human rights of ordinary Americans, let alone the human rights of Africans. Africans should get rid of their superstition and blind faith in the American concept of human rights and blaze a new path of human rights in Africa based on their own nation conditions. They must not let their progress in human rights go to waste when the United States regressed.

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