Illegalizing Abortion Is An Act Of Violence Too.
because forcing someone to do anything has always been violent.
Nya by Reyna Noriega. Source: Pinterest
I remember the movie For Colored Girls almost like it was yesterday. I was in that limbo aged 14–15 watching Tyler Perry movies, reading Alice Walker and listening to Solange. I have since been critical of Tyler Perry’s ethics as a movie producer but I have to admit that regardless of the sob story that For Colored Girls is, that movie played a groundbreaking role in my coming to self.
Everyone who watched the movie had something to say and opinions on who didn’t deserve what. Anika Noni Rose’s character definitely didn’t deserve being raped in her apartment. She was a responsible dance instructor afterall. Janet Jackson’s act was served a bad plate by being deceived as a beard by a man who gave her HIV. Whoopi Goldberg’s script was a hurting woman who used spirituality as a form of refuge.
Tessa Thompson’s character however deserved all the anger her mother gave her for almost dying in a New York inner city back alley abortion clinic. It was a given and it was practically agreed by everyone around me. For fuck’s sake why would she have sex just to prove a point with two brothers?!?
One of the things I find very intriguing about reading books from women in the diaspora and seemingly divergent worlds, is how women’s experiences world over are quite similar. Whether in China or in Nigeria or even in Bangladesh, it is sadly interesting that women across geographical locations first bond over shared experiences of trauma and us trying to overcome male domination in our respective regions.
I remembered Tessa Thompson’s character earlier in May this year, when news broke of how a 22 year old Funmilola Adisa, drowned her 21 month old baby girl in a large tub of water.
Adisa stated in a very disturbing video that she had no regrets doing so because her daughter not just stopped her from fulfilling her dream of being a lawyer, but also plunged her further into poverty and lack.
Although it was very clear to any onlooker that Ms. Adisa was hinging on mental instability, most of the responses towards her killing her child, mirrored most of the same responses I heard watching For Colored Girls and Tessa Thompson’s infamous abortion scene.
- “Why didn’t she use a condom”.
To which I will say: Condoms tear. Men remove condoms sometimes. Condoms are inaccessible. Shame stops most young women from buying condoms at pharmacies.
2. “Why will you open your legs when you are not prepared for the consequences”.
To which I will say:
While it is absolutely necessary that women are in the driver’s seat of contraception seeing as we do most of the biological labour, we must have the conversation devoid of slut shaming or abstract references to abstinence only.
This in line with the fact that no pregnancy can happen if a male did not cum in a woman. Men are 100% responsible for all pregnancies, planned and unplanned so in fact, birth control methods should focus on addressing from the root.
Everywhere November 25th heralds the start of 16 Days earmarked by the United Nations Women, to discuss issues of violence against women and girls globally. It is a period that I often find solidarity reading from brave women sharing their stories of overcoming violence in their respective countries.
However, I hardly find the illegalization of abortion discussed as an indepth violation of women’s rights and bodily autonomy. The illegal status of abortion in most countries in the Global South is not one that often receives attention when the general problem of Gender Based Violence is discussed as a whole. And no, I am not merely looking at it as a response of “women who got pregnant due to rape”. They too deserve the option to abort but that is not the focal point through which I engage illegal abortion as a human rights encroachment.
As a woman who is greatly interested in women’s overall bodily autonomy, the very act of subjecting a woman to something as life threatening as pregnancy is an act of violence in itself. More often than not, women lose body parts in pregnancy and our bodies are often altered often negatively after childbirth. For some women, a lifetime is never enough to heal from diabetes, lost limbs, partial blindness, memory loss, pelvic pain, depression, dislocated cervixes, digestive difficulties, cracked bloodied nipples and even the loss of esteem from weight gain which to me is also valid.
No woman should ever stand the risk of undergoing the dangers associated with childbirth as some form of “punishment” for being sexually active and an eventual “reward” to the society’s ever increasing human capital for labour.
In Nigeria, abortion is only legal in cases where the mother’s life is in danger. What poses “danger” is of course relative and subject to the interpretation of the medical personnel and indeed people around her. Why should other people make decisions that are crucial to a woman’s health except her?
Violence does not start from “merely” slapping, hitting or groping a woman. Violence starts from the very moment a woman’s bodily integrity is up for debate. It starts from statements that insinuate that a woman’s body belongs to anyone but her and much less a husband.
It starts when teenage girls receive lessons on sexuality from half baked Nollywood movies that demonize abortion in itself and offer abstinence as the solution, often forgetting that even in socially approved marriages, unintended pregnancies often happen. This too leads to married women undergoing discreet abortions because even in an approved institution for sexual relationships, women’s overall sexualities are violently policed and philandering husbands often refuse to use condoms.
The worst part of illegalizing abortion for me, is the manner in which it exposes the mother to much more risks which are often lifelong. A pregnant teen who has to drop out of school to have a baby, is stripped of educational and financial autonomy. She becomes the target of men who would want to take advantage of her situation as an economically disadvantaged woman, to exploit her and in most cases beat and even rape her.
As we commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, it is imperative that we recognize the myriad ways women’s overall wellbeing is called into question. It is important that we call illegalizing abortion what it is.
Illegalizing abortion is the greatest act of institutionally sanctioned invasion of women’s privacies approved by the twin monsters of religion and culture and further sustained by men’s entitlement to female labour to sustain their business legacies and overall status as men.
It is my hope that the statement, “Women’s bodies are not political playgrounds” are not merely statements for trendy TShirts.
Our bodies are ours.
The language we use to talk about our bodies belongs to us to define and us alone.
May we always remember this today as feminists discussing the peculiarities of gender based violence in Nigeria.
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