Sierra Leone abortion Act to be put to a referendum

By Kemo Cham

[First published on Politicosl] By all indications Sierra Leoneans are going to have to decide the fate of the proposed abortion law in a referendum, according to information received by Politico.

According to aleaked official StateHouse document,President Ernest Bai Koroma has decided not to append his signature on a law he doesn’t think has any respect for the sanctity of life.

The President, according to the document said in order for the Act tobecome law should be determined by the people. Koroma also said he would hand-over the bill to the Constitutional Review Committeeto includeit into its draft recommendations which are due to be presented for the upcoming referendum.

But some pro-choice activists have questioned the legality for such a move and the President’s ultimate intention.

The ‘Safe Abortion Act 2016’ seeks to replace the pre-colonial 1861 English lawwhich criminalizes abortion. It was first passed by parliament in December 2015 unanimously and sent to the President’s office for his signature before tobecome law.But Koroma,back then in January,

decided not to sign it after religious leaders prevailed on him. He sent it back to parliament asking the House to engage in further “consultations.”

Rival protests organized by pro-choice and pro-life groups preceded meetings between lawmakers and representatives of both sides of the debate, who presented position papers arguing their points.

Parliament subsequently resent the Act to the Presidentunamended, raising hopes of pro-choice campaigners of it being signed into law.

To the surprise of many, however, one month after the piece of legislation was last resent to him,President Koroma came up with his referendum decision.

Proponents of the proposed law say it iscrucial to reduce, if not prevent,hundreds of deaths annually due to unsafe abortion.

Abortion, according to studies supported by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, accounts for a large percentage of maternal deaths in the country which is currently ranked with the highest maternal mortality rates globally.

But those against the bill argued on the basis of morality and religion. The Inter Religious Council,comprising Christian and Muslim leaders, have notably campaigned vigorously against it.

Even if he doesn’t appear to want it to be seen so, President Koroma’s refusal to sign the bill which was twice presented on his table has been greatly influenced by the pressure of the religious establishment, especially the Catholic Church which vehemently opposes abortion.

Until now the President had struggled to put up aface of neutrality. He even tried this last week, while addressing a group of women at the official ceremony marking International Women’s Day on March 8. He said certain aspects in the Act were not clearly defined, citing the definition of who is a medical practitioner. But then suddenly he went dogmatic, talking about “the right to life” and all its ramification for the constitution.

This is a point we have heard over and over again from the ‘men of God’who have managed to use the services of even well trained medical practitioners to discredit the argument of pro-choice campaigners.

A major line of contention is when does a fetusassume life. The Catholic Church is uncompromising about this regardless.

The passing of the proposed abortion law should place Sierra Leone on a strong footing towards meeting its commitment to the Maputo Protocol, officially referred to as Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, which was recently ratified by parliament. This African Union instrument obliges member countries to comprehensively guarantee women’s rights to take part in the political process, to social and political equality, to control of their reproductive health, and an end to female genital mutilation.

There are many indications that the government was initially in support of it.

Firstly the bill was introduced into parliament by a member of the governing All Peoples Congress, Isata Kabia, who was only last week appointed Acting Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs(MSGCA), the very ministry, albeit under its sacked minister Moijueh Kaikai,that has openly expressed support for the Act.

The ministry is in support of the bill “today, tomorrow and even the day after,” Charles Vandi, Director of Gender at the MSGCA, said at a women’s forum late January.

The unanimous decision with which the APC-dominated parliament passed the Act is perhaps the strongest indication of the overwhelming support it had within the party.

President Koroma, apparently not oblivious of Sierra Leone’s obligation to the Protocol, said in as much as the country was a signatory, to effect any changes must be done judiciously, whatever that means.

“The right to life is an entrenched clause in our Constitution, so even though we are to domesticate and adopt the Maputo Protocol, I believe we should go through the due process of the law,” he said.

With this development, curiously, the religious leaders have claimed victory, while pro-choice campaigners are left sulking.

The Archbishop of the Freetown Diocese, Edward Tamba Charles, told Politico’s Umaru Fofana thatthey welcomed the referendum so they could prove “ordinary Sierra Leoneans want to save their pregnancies and not just abort them”.And Dr Aisha Fofana Ibrahim, President of the women’s campaign group 50/50, which has beencalling for the views of women to be considered foremost in the debate, described the move as “disheartening to Sierra Leonean women”.

Ibrahim Tommy, the Executive Director of the Center for Accountability of the Rule of Law (CARL), said the Act should not be a matter for a referendum.

CARL is one of the civil society organisations championing the course to have the Abortion Law.

Tommy said they had hoped that the president would sign it into law especially after it had been passed almost unanimously by parliament.

And even after it had been passed, the parliament resent it to president without any recommendation; “we still hoped the president should have signed it into law,” he said.

“Credit to parliament, they have shown leadership but unfortunately the president have not supported them,’ he added.

Tommy said his organization and other pro-choice campaigners were planning on pushing to have parliamentarians, who had in the first place passed the Act, to vote on it again, and if they have a two-third majority it can become law without the need for a Presidential assent.

Under Sierra Leone’s constitution, the president cannot veto a bill that received two-thirds of the votes.

(C) Politico 15/03/16