Evelyn Okakwu, in this report, draws the attention of the public to the dangers of juvenile sex and unsafe abortion, a major health challenge facing all the countries of the world,particularly Nigeria.
The menace unsafe abortion gradually destroying the lives of young women, as people have closed their eyes at the issue hoping it will disappear; but on the other hand they are also directlyand indirectly worsening the situation.” – Young woman, Nigeria Youth Coalition, 2007.
Over th e years, facts have proven that moral ethics will not permit a woman the right to any form of abortion, as abortion is regarded to be the act of terminating a potential life; a situation which puts the woman in the ugly position of subjecting the needs of her unborn baby to her own needs.
Yet for many years, facts and figures have also indicated that this single act of stereotypic conclusion, which, though born out of love for the dignity of human life, carries a trace of inadequacy, which has unconsciously led to the loss of an even greater number of human life.
Yet still, the life lost is none other than that of the woman, or girl child who’s extent of vulnerability to sexual acts of various form and consequently unwanted pregnancies, can best be described asalarmingly on a persistent increase.
A survey conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2007 revealed the following:That over 25% of adolescents in Nigeria have their first sexual intercourse by the age of 15; that by the age of 18 years, over 60% of adolescents have had sexual intercourse.
What this means is that while a reasonable number of young Nigerians experience their first sexual intercourse, which may inevitable result in cases of pregnancy (most of which are for one reason or the other unwanted or unexpected}; an even greater number (35 percent increase) of these youths get involved in sexual acts within this dangerously adventurous 365 days of their lives (between ages 15-16) The survey also revealed that first sex is often experimentation, and adolescents usually do not prepare for it nor take any protectivemeasure.
Evidently the likelihood of an unwanted pregnancy at this stage cannot be avoided. More so, the propensity of these young ones to become open to various forms of scrutiny and possible stigmatization for getting pregnant (especially the women) cannot be over emphasized.
In these conversations Peoples Daily had with a group of parents on the possible reactions for such an involvement by their child, they had this to say:
Mrs. Mary-Ann Auta, who spoke first on the issue, said, “Well, first of all you cannot expect me to congratulate a girl who decides to abuse what I am doing to make her life better by getting pregnant, I will certainly be furious. I have in fact warned my children to be careful because I will not allow anyone to make me a laughing stock in the society. Why should a young girl be having sex when she is only fifteen or sixteen?She should be patient till she is old enough to face the consequence of her actions. I will not in any way tolerate that from my children; I have enough headaches catering for their needs, I will not have them add more worries to my pack of headache”.
In a similar manner, Mrs. Paul Eze, a Civil Defense staff, had this to say: For what reason will I want to tolerate such nonsense from my child? I will not even have her tell me that rubbish, when I have told her time and time again to keep herself, why will she bring me such trouble? I may not kill her but I am sure she knows I will make her pay for such rubbish; the problem with our time is that youths are getting more and more involved in the assumption that they have the right to do all sorts of things. If my child admits her mistake, I may be a little lenient, but if she dares to tell me that it is as a result of a social right,God knows, she will have to pay for that by matching those rights with responsibilities”.
While it is not out of place to match a right with responsibility, the tone of this woman and certainly that of her partner above, does not only suggest an impending danger for the potentially pregnant adolescent girl; it also explains why most young girls would rather hide cases of similar pregnancies from their parents who would rather have been in good light to guard them at such turbulent times.
Nevertheless, countless of these young ones have persistently engaged in this sexual acts, which have resulted invariably in various forms of unwanted pregnancies. Evidently, a larger chunk of them would rather prefer to handle this recent responsibility personally, notwithstanding their overwhelming level of ignorance on the issue.
More often than not, they resort to the nearest source of help where condemnation or stigmatization will be less. The peer influences here comes to play.
In this report by Ipas,a non-governmental organization (NGO) that seeks to provide greater insight into there productive rights of women, the confession of two young ladies caught in the web of sexual abuse and its effect went thus: “After he forced me to have sex, he started sending my friend, a girl, to talkto me, because he knew I was mad at him and did not want to see him again. My friend convinced me that such things happen to every girl, so I should get used to it. So I forgave the boy and went back.” (Girl aged 15, Edo).
The confession of the second lady went thus: “One day, he told me that he wanted to introduce me to his relatives who would help in getting us married: I went there. He was alone. He locked the door; he threatened me saying: how could he marry me if I behaved like this? He beat me when I tried to get out.”(Girl aged 19, Kaduna)
Obviously, the experiences of these young ladies are similar to that of many young women of our time.The incidences of rape and other forms of promiscuous sex among youths have persistently resulted in countless unwanted pregnancies. And since most parents may not understand, the future of the girlchild is put at stake; but more at stake is her very life, which is left in the hands of her naive self and that of her equally ignorant peer; and at a time when rational ideology would have inclined her the safe
haven of her parents or older experiences.
Whether the cause of unwanted pregnancy was rape or juvenile behavior, the tendency of the girl-child to want to do away with the pregnancy is in more cases than not, high.
According to Bankole and Henshaw et al, “1 in 10 Nigerian women have an abortion in her lifetime. Also, there are 760,000 abortions cases every year in Nigeria, 60 percent of which areunsafe. At least 3,000 Nigerians die of unsafe abortion every year, with more than eight deaths per day”.
In the words of Ipas Senior Advisor, Legal Systems,Barrister Hauwa Shekarau; “The legal indications for abortion in Nigeria are quite restrictive: to save the woman’s life; found in the Criminal codes
section 228 to section 230 and section 297, for the South and the penal code section 232 and 233, which are applicable in the North. The consequence of the restrictive nature of these laws, she notes is that:
“Women who do not fall under these indications are left to their own devices. Those who are not economically-empowered resort to quacks and herbalists, thus making unsafe abortion silent and persistent”.
In efforts to protect the youth, a member of House of Representatives’ Committee on Population, Rep. Charles Odedo, said that the Child Rights, particularly those relating to the girl child, must always be preserved and protected.
“The Legislature and the Executive at the federal level have adopted and enacted the Child’s Rights Act; the National Assembly has been calling on the different states to follow suit.
“Parents are also called upon to create more time for their children’s upbringing, rather than leaving them under the care of housemaids; they should not forget the fact that money is not everything,’’ he said.
According to Dr. Kailani Ahmadu, senior advisor, Health systems Ipas; “The restrictive nature of theacts relating to abortion has led a lot of young vulnerable youths to resort to the use of dangerous means of performing abortion.
These range from alligator pepper, native chalk, native alum, among others, and are capable of destroying the woman’s reproductive organ and her life as a whole”.
These means that while the world looks to these young ones as irresponsible and even condemnable for their mistakes, their unguided steps to win again the trust of their loved ones and indeed theirpride in the society causes them to make greater and certainly graver mistakes.This is why the need to ensure a wide reach of youth awareness to health safety habits to prevent these unwanted pregnancies becomes inevitable.
Ipas outlines these steps as features of a youth with a healthy sexual balance. They include the fact that a sexually healthy youth must be able to:
Accepts responsibility for his or her behavior; Identify personal values; Decide what it is ‘right’ (whether sex is right) for her or himself and acts on these values; Understands the consequences of actions; Understands that media messages can create unrealistic expectations related to sexuality and intimate relationships; Is able to distinguish personal desires from desires of peers; Is knowledgeable about sexuality issues; Enjoys sexual feelings withoutnecessarily acting upon them; Understands the consequences of sexual behaviors; Understands his or her own gender identity ;Seeks further information about sexuality as needed.
It is the collective responsibility, both of the youth and the parent or guardian to analyze these steps and heed them for a safer future of our next generation.
