Assistant Local Government Minister Botlogile Tshireletso, hit the nail on the head when she called for the establishment of facilities to help pregnant women who are not ready for motherhood to give up their children for adoption. We encourage the assistant minister to pursue the matter vigorously so that her proposal becomes reality. Her appeal to Parliament to do something about the issue is apt, but the National Assembly is a law-making institution and a talk-shop at the mercy of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). After talking in Parliament, we advise Tshireletso that her next stop should be the executive. She is in government; hence she should find it easier to approach the relevant authorities and stakeholders about the problem. She should make sure that her noble suggestion is not mere rhetoric associated with populist politicians. We believe that Tshireletso is genuinely concerned about the deaths from abortion and she should therefore follow up her words with concrete action.
We call on the government to move rapidly and devise measures and implement Tshireletso's suggestion. We have a children's department in government that should lead the campaign to make sure the children who are dumped by their mothers are saved through adoption. Though abortion remains illegal in Botswana, it is no secret that our women get rid of 'unwanted' pregnancies at the drop of a hat. The statistics paint a grim picture of what is going on. In the two-year period of 2008-2010, the Minister of Health Dr John Seakgosing says that 19,961 illegal abortions were recorded in the country. This translates to nearly 10,000 abortions a year in a country with a population of around two million. But this is just half of the horrible story. The whole story suggests that the real number of illegal abortions in Botswana may be close to or over 20,000 annually. The figures released by Seakgosing come from cases where illegal abortions had gone horribly wrong and perpetrators sought help from health institutions. The successful illegal abortions - and we bet they are numerous - are never reported, so the number of unborn children lost through these backyard operations is much higher. That is why something must be done to arrest the situation. We cannot afford to lose so many children when we can do something about it. Our expectant women, who are not ready for motherhood, must be told in plain language that abortion is not the solution. The solution lies in giving up these innocent souls for adoption. Children are the future of any country and given our small population, Botswana needs each and every one of the infants she loses through illegal abortions.
