Botswana – Dikoloti Calls For Safe Abortion

By Cathrine Moemedi
Published Oct 5, 2021

Although abortion remains illegal in Botswana the Ministry of Health and Wellness is seeking ways to make abortion safe as it is the third leading cause of maternal death in Botswana.

The disturbing revelation was made by Minister of Health and wellness Dr. Edwin Dikoloti during the second world patient safety day commemoration last week.

Continued:  https://news.thevoicebw.com/2021/10/dikoloti-calls-for-safe-abortion/


Botswana aims to lower maternal deaths

2020-09-03

GABORONE, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Botswana is
working hard to improve maternity services by training more nurses to be
midwives to handle complicated births, a healthcare official said Thursday.

Sifelani Malima, a family planning coordinator in Botswana's ministry of health
and wellness, said nurses are being offered better education on how to handle
pregnant women with the hope of reducing maternal deaths.

Continued: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-09/03/c_139340538.htm


Africa – Abortion is healthcare – and this makes it a human right

Reproductive justice is about much more than the freedom to choose to terminate a pregnancy or not – it challenges systems of oppression and discrimination and calls for a focused action plan for law reform.

By Tlaleng Mofokeng
14 August 2020

Dignity, bodily integrity, equality, safety and security, and health – including reproductive health – are human rights.

States must work to ensure that all people, regardless of gender, age, immigration or documentation status, geography or class, are able to access life-affirming and comprehensive healthcare. No circumstances or interventions should lead to discrimination, obstruction of access to abortion, or complications or death due to unsafe procedures.

Continued: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-08-14-abortion-is-healthcare-and-this-makes-it-a-human-right/


Botswana: Tshireletso Calls for Safe Abortion

Botswana: Tshireletso Calls for Safe Abortion

13 October 2019
Botswana Daily News (Gaborone)
By Collin Ntesang

Gaborone — The Assistant Minister of Local government and Rural Development, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso, has called for formulation of policies that could promote safe abortion.

Speaking at commemoration of the International Safe Abortion Day, Ms Tshireletso called on government to come up with initiatives that could promote access to safe and legal abortion, saying many women continued to lose their lives due to unsafe abortion.

Continued: https://allafrica.com/stories/201910140125.html


BOTSWANA – In Botswana it is easier to have a back street abortion than to be treated for flu at Princes Marina Hospital

BOTSWANA – In Botswana it is easier to have a back street abortion than to be treated for flu at Princes Marina Hospital

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Dec 6, 2018

For Pula 800 and a click of the mouse, Batswana women who wish to terminate unwanted pregnancies can have their wishes fulfilled in a few hours while influenza patients are still queuing to see a doctor, according to Sunday Standard investigations.

The right of women to terminate a pregnancy in Botswana has been the subject of political, medical, social and legal debate, but 18 years later it remains a criminal offence unless it is permitted under the Penal Code 1991, which permits abortion up to 16 weeks of pregnancy on grounds of rape, defilement or incest; if the pregnancy puts the life of the woman at risk or may cause harm to her physical or mental health; or the fetus would suffer or later develop physical or mental abnormality.

Continued: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/botswana-in-botswana-it-is-easier-to-have-a-back-street-abortion-than-to-be-treated-for-flu-at-princes-marina-hospital/


I Saw A Woman Die From A Self-Induced Abortion — That’s The Cost Of Our Silence

I Saw A Woman Die From A Self-Induced Abortion — That's The Cost Of Our Silence

By Nisha Verma
May 1, 2018

A few months ago, I got a tattoo of a coat hanger on my right wrist. When people ask me what it means, I tell them the story of the woman I once met who didn't deserve to die. I tell them about the lack of access to safe and legal abortion that killed her.

Warning: Some readers may find the following details graphic and triggering.

At the time, I worked as a resident at a hospital in Botswana. This woman had tried to end her pregnancy with a "coat hanger abortion" — in her case, by placing sticks through her vagina into her uterus. She was pronounced dead on arrival to the hospital. She was 22 years old. She died because she lived in a country where safe and legal abortion did not exist. 


Continued: https://www.bustle.com/p/i-saw-a-woman-die-from-a-self-induced-abortion-thats-the-cost-of-our-silence-8867712


I’m a Catholic obstetrician who had an abortion. This is not politics or religion. It’s life.

I'm a Catholic obstetrician who had an abortion. This is not politics or religion. It's life.

Rebecca Luckett, Opinion contributor
March 27, 2018

My job is to take care of women. As an obstetrician-gynecologist working in Botswana, I see women through the highs and lows of their reproductive lives. Until last year, I personally had only experienced the highs. In 2015, I gave birth to a perfect baby at the right time in my life given my values and goals. A few years later, when I was ready, I got pregnant with my second child.

Last August, I went for my 20-week ultrasound, expecting to find out if number two was a boy or a girl. Instead, I looked to the monitor and found a fetus struggling to survive in my womb. I’m used to being on the other side of that ultrasound probe, so I knew what was next. I would have said the same thing: “The baby can’t survive. And you can get very sick.”

Continued: https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/416614002


Trump-Pence Administration’s Neocolonial Assault on Reproductive Freedom Is Killing African Women and Girls

Trump-Pence Administration’s Neocolonial Assault on Reproductive Freedom Is Killing African Women and Girls
Jan 23, 2018
Hayley Farless

As advocates and researchers have seen, it is African women and girls who are suffering because of the United States’ interference with reproductive autonomy globally.

Just three days after his inauguration, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum to reinstate and expand the “global gag rule,” a Reagan-era, anti-abortion, foreign policy directive, with the backing of Vice President Mike Pence. Because of this policy, any nongovernmental organization (NGO) outside of the United States that provides abortion procedures, participates in pro-choice advocacy, supplies information about abortion, or offers referrals to abortion providers has been forced to choose between forfeiting U.S. foreign assistance funding or ceasing to provide the basic reproductive health services that its patients need.

The global gag rule, also known as the “Mexico City Policy,” goes beyond just blocking U.S. funding for critical reproductive health services. A Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) research report notes that this policy also restricts what groups receiving U.S. funds can do with money from all other sources; organizations must subject all their funds to the same restrictions or lose U.S. funding.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2018/01/23/trump-pence-administrations-neocolonial-assault-reproductive-freedom-killing-african-women-girls/


Trump’s global gag rule goes far beyond abortion, groups say

Trump's global gag rule goes far beyond abortion, groups say
The Associated Press
Cara Anna
January 23, 2018

JOHANNESBURG — President Donald Trump’s dramatic expansion of a ban on U.S. funding to foreign organizations that promote or provide abortions has left impoverished women around the world without treatment for HIV, malaria and other diseases, health groups say, calling it “devastating” because Trump went where no administration had gone before.

Trump in his first working day in office revived the so-called global gag rule. He expanded on previous versions so that for the first time foreign NGOs that even discuss abortion as an option are barred not only from about $575 million in U.S. family planning funds but also an estimated $8.8 billion in U.S. global health aid. And they must certify that none of their non-U.S. funding goes for abortion-related activities.

Continued: http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/trumps-global-gag-rule-goes-far-beyond-abortion-groups-say