By Janet A. Sesay
The Speaker of Parliament Hon. Sengepoh Solomon Thomas has decided to stay the debate on the proposed “Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Healthcare Act of 2024” and has committed it to the Legislative Committee to further due diligence through enhanced consultations with the relevant stakeholders across the country.
Key among these stakeholders are the Inter-religious Council which in its recent reaction and condemnation of the Bill, issued a ten-page press release outlining how the Bill if enacted will contravene the religious, social, cultural and moral stand points of Sierra Leone.
The committal for thorough scrutiny comes in the wake of the Second Reading in the Well of Parliament by the Deputy of Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Jalikatu Mustapha last Tuesday, 17th Decembers, 2024.
Speaker Thomas stayed the debate and ordered for the establishment of “a Special Session” of the Legislative Committee that will include key stakeholders for “a thorough consultation” on the Bill.
Hon. Thomas reminded MPs in the Special Committee of their sacred duty as Representatives of the People and admonished them to consult freely out of their personal sentiments and biases.
He further cautioned the MPs not to allow feelings to influence their decisions, especially when the issue of the Bill has raised so much interests and concerns among the people they are representing in Parliament.
The Deputy of Health and Sanitation, while presenting the Bill, highlighted the role of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in ensuring the delivery of safe reproductive health services across the country for women and girls.
According to her, the Ministry will ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, safely cared for and safely delivered taking the health and safety of both mother and child, pointing out that the proposed Bill will provide for all those services during the pregnancy on to delivery.
The Deputy Minister Mustapha maintained that the Bill speaks to when a woman is pregnant, and if the woman does not want to keep the pregnancy.
The first role of the Ministry of Health, she explained, would be to ensure that they provide counseling and support services to those women and girls and do everything possible to encourage them to keep the baby.
Minister Jalikatu Mustapha drew the attention of the Speaker to the country’s high rate maternal mortality, which she maintained, has contributed significantly to the rate of unsafe terminations of pregnancies currently in Sierra Leone.
The Minister pointed out that despite the current law against unsafe termination of pregnancy in the country, “over 90, 000 women still choose to terminate their pregnancies every year as a result of the high rate of unwanted issues that have been uncovered.”
In light of this “Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Healthcare Act 2024” a couple of women interviewed by this Reporter within the precincts of Parliament say the Bill when enacted will be “a game changer” in the guaranteeing safe motherhood in the country, given that, according to the interviewees, it will go a long way in saving the lives of women and girls and reduce unwanted pregnancies.
They furthered that the Bill will provide a comprehensive reproductive care for women, and that by virtue of the Bill when enacted, will reduce pregnancy related deaths and will also reduce teenage pregnancies.
In further interviews, the women who are in support of the Bill maintained that the Bill will also reduce unsafe abortions and will ensure that the termination of any pregnancy would be done by a trained and certified medical practitioner in a regulated and safe way and environment.
They interviewees also posited that the Bill if enacted, will increase access to reproductive health services and it will narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.
The Bill, they further assured, if enacted, will Increase accountability of all stakeholders in the healthcare system and will guarantee free medical care for pregnant women, children and lactating mothers.
Some men also interviewed by this Reporter say the Bill guarantees access to reproductive health for everyone; and that it will help to reduce teenage pregnancy which accounts for 14% of maternal deaths in the country as 1 in 3 girls are getting pregnant before their age 19.
Some state that every day, the country loses 3-4 women as a result of pregnancy complications and 25% of women in Sierra Leone lack access to family planning services and also that there are 150, 000 unwanted pregnancies in Sierra Leone per year, and 90, 000 end up terminating their pregnancies, while 80% of those 90, 000 end with severe complications or death from unsafe abortions.