Students Call For Abortion Law Review

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Nigerian Medical Students’ Association (NIMSA), has called on the Federal Government and the National Assembly to review Nigeria’s abortion law which is part of the Criminal Code of 1979.

  The call was contained in a communiqué made available after its NEC meeting  held at Imo State University Teaching Hospital, Orlu recently.

  “The Government and the National Assembly should review the abortion law from the Nigeria Criminal Code of 1979 which the country is still using to reflect the current standard of women’s health and reproductive rights.”

  “This Law was adapted from the British Offences Against the Persons Act of 1861,” the medical students said in the communiqué which was signed by its President, Patrick Ezie and the National Secretary Evarest Okwara.

  The call is coming three weeks after ECOWAS Health Ministers in a meeting held in Nigeria, called on respective member states to reform their abortion laws based on observations that unsafe abortion was contributing a lot to high maternal mortality statistics in the sub-region.

  Abortion law in Nigeria only allows the medical procedure to be performed when a pregnancy poses a threat to the life of the woman.

  The medical students also identified some of the major causes of maternal mortality and morbidity in Nigeria to include unsafe abortion, breast and cervical cancer.

  The group said that aggressive action from all health stakeholders is necessary to reduce the high statistics.

  NIMSA said it appreciates the efforts of the Federal Government at developing a standard health care system and pledged its support for activities that will take the nation’s healthcare system to the highest standards.

  The medical students commended the Federal Government and the Wife of the President for waging a war against cancer and other major diseases prevalent in the country and called on international organisations to lend their support to the efforts.

  The body advised youths and the society at large to imbibe the attitude of voluntary blood donation as their contribution towards saving lives during emergencies.

  Apart from health issues, NIMSA also appealed to the Federal Government to support its bid to host the 2010 African Regional meeting of medical students where MDGs 4 and 5, which dwell on maternal and infant mortality will be reviewed.        

Sogbeba Dokubo