Abortion: Who has the right?
Friday, August 02, 2013
There is a "world" out there made up of millions of crying but silent voices, who are asking a simple question to the legal experts in our world: "Who will defend our human rights since we cannot defend ourselves, being victims of those who were expressing their human rights in the process of making their choices when they terminated our lives?"
Abortion occurs when pregnancy is ended so that it does not result in the birth of a child. Sometimes this is called termination of pregnancy. However, we must be aware of the fact that it has many side effects. An estimated 44 million abortions are performed globally each year, with slightly under half of those performed unsafely. Unsafe abortions result in approximately 70,000 maternal deaths and five million hospital admissions per year globally.The legality, prevalence, cultural and religious status of abortion varies substantially around the world, depending on specific conditions such as incest, rape, faetal defects, high risk of disability, socio-economic factors or the mother's health being at risk.
It highlights the need to protect rights such as access to clean water, education, healthcare and freedom of expression.President Duma Boko, rightly honours past interventions from securing a dignified burial for Gaoberekwe Pitseng in the CKGR to promoting linguistic inclusion. Yet, they also expose a critical truth, that a nation cannot sustainably protect its people through ad hoc acts of compassion alone.It is time for both government and the...