Ministry on the spot over abortion guidelines

KAMPALA.

The Ministry of Health is on the spot over issuance of abortion guidelines which human life activists say contravene the law and promote illegal abortion among children as young as 10 years.

The guidelines titled: “Reducing maternal morbidity and mortality from unsafe abortion in Uganda,” were launched in April last year but have since been challenged by Fr Jonathan Opio and Dr Brain Clowes of Human Life International Uganda.

“The launch of the abortion guidelines in question without scrutiny and endorsement, including ignoring major stake holders in health matters, renders the guidelines suspect,” Fr Opio told Daily Monitor in an interview recently, adding that the document was not approved by the Health Policy and Advisory Committee.

One of the clauses in the abortion guidelines reads: “Services should be in the interest of Ugandan people. No verbal or written consent is needed from a parent or guardian or spouse before a client can be given family planning and other services other reproductive health services.”
Dr Edna Kakembo, also a human life promoter, told this newspaper that the policy document denies parents the responsibility to consent on behalf of their children before they procure an abortion.

“Girls as young as 10 years can carry out an abortion and also use other contraceptives without their consent, which undermines the role and responsibility of parents,” Dr Kakembo said early this week.
Also, under scrutiny are contradicting statistics used in the policy document. In its executive summary, the document claims that more than 300, 000 abortions, most of which are unsafe, take place. However, in its introduction, the same document indicates that approximately 400,000 unsafe abortions occur annually.

Fr Opio said the statistics are largely based on an old report from the Guttmacher Institute, originally founded by Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion advocacy organisation in the world. He said the document is not in the interest of Ugandans but in the interest of foreign abortion providers who are targeting profits.

However, while still Director General of Health Services, Dr Jane Aceng, now the minister of Health, wrote a letter to all the partners, indicating that she had suspended implementation of the abortion guidelines due to “unforeseen issues that need further discussion.”
But Fr Opio said Health ministry officials continue to refer to the guidelines.

When contacted to explain why she had stayed implementation of the guidelines, Dr Aceng, in a text message, said the document was against the law and would promote abortion.

What law says
Article 22(2) of the Constitution on the protection of life states that no person has the right to terminate the life of an unborn child except as may be authorised by law.

eainebyoona@ug.nationmedia.com