Image from left to right: Prof. Olubunmi Ashimolowo, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, and Rt.Hon Elemide Oludaisi
Three important Nigerian leaders – the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, the Executive Director of the Gender Development Initiative, and the Director of the Women Advocates’ Research and Documentation Centre – have spoken out in support of making some abortions legal.
Ogun State is in the southwest of Nigeria, the second most industrialised state in the country. The Ogun State House of Assembly has said it will assist in providing the necessary backing to protect “genuine victims of rape and other vulnerable people”. The Speaker, Oludaisi Elemide, gave this assurance last week while receiving the Gender Development Initiative (GEDIN) at the Assembly Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
Speaking earlier, the Executive Director of GEDIN, Prof. Olubunmi Ashimolowo, urged the House of Assembly to amend restrictive abortion laws to protect victims of rape and incest and those with underlying medical conditions. Ashimolowo, while lamenting that unsafe abortion remains a leading cause of maternal deaths, maintained that the need for safe abortion was not dangerous and that restrictions on abortion force many victims into secrecy, unsafe procedures, and unqualified hands.
She said, “The impact is not just on individual lives; it overburdens our healthcare system, weakens our economy, and ultimately holds back our state’s development. Today, I will present concrete evidence on how unsafe abortion contributes to maternal deaths in Ogun State and the economic burden it places on families, hospitals, and our government… In Nigeria, unsafe abortion accounts for 10-15 percent of maternal deaths, leading to 512 deaths per 100,000 live births.”
Ashimolowo also noted that South Africa’s Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act (1996) legalized abortion services while strengthening reproductive healthcare, resulting in a 91 percent reduction in maternal mortality within the first decade of implementation. She added that the policy led to increased women’s workforce participation, boosting national economic growth.
However, the Minority Leader of the Assembly, Lukman Adeleye, noted that all the relevant sections of the criminal code and penal code in operation in the country would require amendments in order to cater for this reform of the law.
The next day, International Women’s Day, the founding Director of the Women Advocates’ Research and Documentation Centre, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, said there was an urgent need to bring the issue of maternal mortality to the front burner of government.
Fielding questions from journalists during a two-day workshop on “Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in Nigeria”, Dr. Akiyode-Afolabi noted that Nigeria is second to India in high maternal mortality globally. She said, “To ensure women are not dying as a result of unsafe abortion, we need to increase family planning around the country, and there’s also a need to collaborate to further strengthen advocacy across Nigeria for sexual and reproductive rights in containing the issue of unsafe abortion in Nigeria.
It is important for government to invest money, she said. It is also important for government to take the issue of unsafe abortion seriously because of the high rate of people dying. Some States, she said, like Anambra, Ogun, Jigawa, Osun, Gombe, have taken steps already. It is important that Nigerians should see this as a national emergency to address the high rate of national mortality among teenagers and adolescents. It is not something that the government should look away from. These are issues that need to be pushed, she said, if we are serious about reducing maternal mortality in Nigeria. There’s a need for the government to increase funding for healthcare as well. Recommendations of about 15% of the budget should be committed to health if we want achieve a lot more as a nation.”
SOURCES: Daily Post Nigeria, 7 March 2025 ; Maternal mortality: experts call for effective abortion laws, by Olayinka Ajayi. Vanguard. 8 March 2025 + PHOTOS.