Illegal abortion in Côte d’Ivoire, the trial

While voluntary termination of pregnancy is still prohibited in Côte d’Ivoire, except in cases of rape or incest, covert abortion is a common practice among women. The school environment is particularly affected, NGO Médecins du Monde estimates that 76% of Ivorian women who end their pregnancies still go to school.

From our correspondent in Abidjan,

At the end of the morning, the sun is not sore with the people of Soubré, the capital of the Nawa region, in the western Ivory Coast. To avoid rays, several people, mostly women, seek refuge in the courtyard of the town hall and wait patiently for the various municipal services to receive them. You have to walk through the narrow corridors to escape the disturbance and knock on the secretariat door, a cramped room with life-saving air conditioning. Bernadette Oupoh made it her office, both to provide the secretariat of the town hall, but above all to gather women who need trust.

For these women, “Maman Oupoh”, as they affectionately call the fifty-something, first and foremost the president of the Namané Coalition, “Let’s Have a Conscience” in the Bete language, is a group of civil society associations and organizations committed that unwanted pregnancies, especially among teenage girls and in schools. Under the watchful eye of a spectator and her hand resting on her arm, Mrs. Oupoh tenderly turns to Mariatou *, 20 years old: “You must see me as your mother. Everything you tell us does not come out of this room. Her voice trembled, her eyes fixed on the ground, BTS Business Management student seems to struggle to utter a single word, a sob that punctures each of her sentences.

Like 290,000 Ivorian women each year, Mariatou voluntarily terminated her pregnancy. She gets pregnant while she is still in high school. She chooses not to keep the baby. A decision made in agreement with her boyfriend at the time. “It was only at the age of six months that I realized I was pregnant,” she says. My boyfriend accompanied me to a clinic that takes care of abortions and asks me to lie about the length of the pregnancy to pay less. But by examining the doctor realized it. “Of the clinic, the facility bears only the name,” it did not look like the regular clinics, “even though the young woman was admitted. High school students then went to the clinic for the second time, this time alone because her companion refused to follow. For her, the trial begins with the doctor’s attitude.

A social taboo

“He asked me to go to bed and ordered me:” We are not crying here! “”, She remembers with emotion. I felt like wind in my stomach. Then something that we cut. I was in so much pain that I got up and rushed to the bathroom to hide. He shouted at me, “No! You’re going to soil my clinic!” “The work is over, she goes home, traumatized. She continues to go to school but prefers to spend time in the yard rather than return to class. So much so that it doubles.

Since then, the student has become pregnant again: “But this time I had decided to keep my baby. I said to myself no matter what ordeal I will overcome it. “Her parents, who are still unaware of their daughter’s first abortion, insist she abort. But Mariatou is on, today she is the mother of a little girl. She had never told anyone about this ordeal before Maman Oupoh. “I was ashamed, but above all I feared my parents’ reaction, she justified herself. Even to my girlfriends I never said anything, I’m suspicious. Today I feel free from a weight that I have been pulling for three years. ”

Opening the voice is still a necessary step to regain self-esteem. “It liberates a lot, for her but also for us! Judge Bernadette Oupoh, who when she was younger lost two children due to complications during pregnancy. It is as if these events have just happened and that we are helping him find himself, to be like everyone else. ”

If abortion remains illegal in Côte d’Ivoire – except in cases of rape or incest – and is punishable by six months to three years in prison, it is above all the taboo that weighs heaviest in society. And this despite the serious consequences for health. “In society, apart from a few more open people talking to their daughters, we rarely talk about it because of religious beliefs,” laments this midwife from Soubré, who insists on her anonymity. I remember the case of a young lady in Abidjan who had to have her uterus removed completely. This woman will no longer be able to get pregnant. “Death is still the most serious consequence in a country where the UN Development Program estimates that for every More than 600 Ivorian women give birth to more than 600 births, almost three times the average for developing countries.

The network of young ambassadors

Given this impossibility of approaching the subject of abortion in society, the people of Soubré decided to address it and implement prevention of the risks of sexual health. There are references for adults, called Tontons and Tatas, that make themselves available to address these issues. Young people are also mobilizing. On La Voix de la Nawa radio, high school students come every week to host programs on this topic, to advise listeners and tell them what mistakes to avoid. These school children call themselves the young ambassadors. “We organize training talks in the field,” explains the young ambassador Tigana Hawaou, a second-year student at High School 1 in Soubré. We go to a neighborhood and gather about twenty young people. After choosing a theme, we use a frame to illustrate the point. Sometimes some young people accuse us of talking about things that are reserved for adults, but most of the time they are receptive and the message of prevention gets through. ”

The network of young ambassadors is a program set up in 2016 by Läkare du Monde. NGOs invest in the Nawa region to combat pregnancies in schools. A real torment in the Ivory Coast. “Our research shows that 85% of women who have unsafe abortions are under the age of 18,” worries Stéphanie Baux, general coordinator of the Côte d’Ivoire organization. measures, but it is still insufficient. “

Côte d’Ivoire has yet to sign and ratify the Maputo Protocol of the African Union, Article 14 of which deals specifically with sexual and reproductive health, as well as the right of women to dispose of their bodies. But according to Stéphanie Baux, the state has never fully applied it. There is no specific law on sexual and reproductive health, despite the 2016 draft law, which was never adopted due to blockades by religious and community leaders.

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