UPDATE: September 28th Campaign
GIWYN and the National Coalition Members and others celebrated the Sept 28 Campaign in three states in Nigeria, Lagos, Imo States and Edo. The activities included:
- Created a blog with wonderful photos of our activities.
- In Lagos, seven organizations from the Coalition Network organized in different locations; they include the Federated Women Alliance, Royal Skills Empowerment for Girls , Mother and Child Initiative, Learning Word and Rehoboth Foundation. In the Forum, women identified that women’s shoes speak different languages and tell diverse stories of Abortion to end stigma and gender stereotypes. The participants expressed their appreciation for abortion stories by painting in the Colouring Book, indicating diverse needs for termination of pregnancy. The women are of the view that abortion should be safe and legal to end all the deaths and complications caused by unsafe abortion. In conclusion Sybil stated that the black-and-white shoe-flyers symbolized different stories of women and girls about their reproductive health. However, when the shoes are painted, they represent the coming together of all organizations and individuals to carry out advocacy to end abortion stigma in Nigeria.
- In Edo State women spoke that the policy makers and the society at large should actually step into the shoes of those women who went through an abortion experience and understand the realities to make it stigma free and establish abortion as women’s human right.
- In Imo State, 40 people which included nurses, midwives, traditional birth attendants and doctors attended the event to ensure that access to reproductive health services, contraceptives and essential drugs are accessible to all to reduce gender stereotypes.
- GIWYN social media reached 9,290 people.
The events made the participants, including health providers and politicians, aware that abortion should be seen as a right, not a privilege. We helped them to differentiate between myths and facts about abortion, and created a safe platform for interaction between young and old, policy makers, members of civil society and human rights organizations, to exchange ideas and create awareness, with the aim of ending unsafe abortion and gender stereotyping.