In this Inroads blog, Akosua Agyepong, a 20-year old, third year student and youth activist in Ghana, lays out her hunger to see the eradication of stigma which leads to unsafe abortions within her country.
She describes her journey to understanding the dynamics of abortion stigma and explains how religious and traditional leaders seek to dictate what women do with their bodies and sexuality. Akosua ends with a call to her communities which she says must wake-up and realise that young people are sexually active, that they could get pregnant in the process and some of them would want to terminate the pregnancy.
“Abortion stigma stems really from the hypocrisy of society. The pretense of our lawmakers, cultural custodians, religious leaders and community leaders. To abort a foetus is wicked, sinful, uncultural and with whatever contempt they describe abortion with. They live in a false consciousness that young people must and are all abstaining from sex. That those who do not, would eventually give birth and would marry whoever got her pregnant or better still suffer for their sins.”
PHOTO: Inroads