The President of Culture of Life Africa, Obianuju Ekeocha is appalled at African leaders for giving audience to Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau because of his commitment and funding of pregnancy abortions in Africa.
On February 14 2020, Trudeau completed an 8-day tour in Africa, visiting Senegal and Ethiopia. During the visit, he was able to win the continent’s support for Canada’s bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council for a one-year term.
However, not everyone is pleased with the hospitality given to Trudeau by leaders of the continent. Human rights activist, Obianuju Ekeocha believes he is a threat to the African culture and even morals because of a $650 million funding of sexual and reproductive health programs-SRHR, for women and children in Africa
The SRHR 3-year fund will cover campaigns to overturn national laws against abortions, promote women’s rights to decide on pregnancy, birth controls and even create more awareness on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community- LGBT
“Simply put, Justin Trudeau, is not a friend to Africa, “As an African woman, it has been painful to watch this Trudeau tour through my continent, making speeches at our most important Summit of the year – the African Union Summit — endearing himself to African leaders by donating even more millions of dollars, having get-togethers with our leaders, and even doing photo-ops at a former slave trading post in Senegal,” Ekeocha said.
Aside from the Culture of Life Africa, some foundations in Canada have also criticized the prime minister’s view on abortion. In a tweet, Canada’s national pro-life, pro-family lobbying group Campaign Life Coalition accused the prime minister of directly forcing “Western abortion culture” on Africa.
The foundation also stated that the Canadian government has spent the last four years aggressively promoting abortion through conferences and meetings and even lobbied with leaders of developing countries to embrace the pregnancy termination practice.
Also, in a documentary titled No Strings Attached, western states were accused of not disclosing the health risk of contraceptives to African women.
Abortion is perceived to be a taboo especially in the African society, where most people have tagged it as the killing of innocent babies and the destruction of God’s work. As such, the topic is hardly argued outside religious or moral grounds.
This stigma has led to the secret practice of the procedure, which leaves patients (pregnant women) vulnerable to the services of unqualified doctors.
But looking at the reality across the continent, where women are also vulnerable to rape, sexual manipulation and even extreme poverty, the option of terminating a pregnancy might address the aftermath of unfortunate situations experienced by African women.
