Social and spiritual factors in the west African country mean that desperate women are still risking their lives by resorting to unsafe terminations
According to religious and spiritual teachings, [abortion] is like taking the life of an individual ... We are a country of voodooRaïmath Moriba, president of Femmes engagées pour le développement, a non-governmental organisation, agrees that only people in large towns and cities know about the legal change. “Clandestine abortions are still happening,” she says.
Raïmath Moriba, president of Femmes engagées pour le développement, warns that unsafe abortions are still happening.Kitihoun believes awareness-raising workshops are needed, along with training for communities and healthcare professionals. There are doctors who refuse to carry out abortions because of religious reasons or because they have been brought up to believe it can’t be done, he says.told the BBC he would“There is still resistance,” says Kitihoun.
Benin is a country of about 13 million people, sandwiched between Togo and Nigeria. Christianity and Islam are the two dominant religions, but the country is also the, which plays into many people’s beliefs. “We are a country of voodoo. In practically all families, there is this reality,” says Moriba.
Outside a family planning clinic in Cotonou, Benin’s largest city, Marie*, 24, tells in a barely audible voice of the abortion she had a week ago. She says she “didn’t have a choice”, her parents would have reacted badly and she isn’t in a financially secure position to bring up a child.When the legal change was announced, she didn’t agree with it because of her beliefs as an evangelical Christian. “The abortion has touched me,” she says. “I still feel bad. I’ve asked God to forgive me.
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