Abortions and brothels should be legalized in Botswana

Keletso Thobega | Friday December 12, 2014 09:27

 

These are noble ideas, but I don’t agree with the latter suggestion. Pregnancy allowances would be a waste of taxpayers’ funds. Women shouldn’t be praised for giving birth to children they cannot afford to take of. They should be praised for excelling in their careers, and being financially independent. We shouldn’t glamourise struggle. Instead, women should have easy access to contraceptives without the “stigma” of taking reproductive precautions. Pregnancy allowances would possibly further increase the ‘dependency syndrome’ rampant in our society. Some women, especially the poor and unemployed, would in desperation, have multiple births, confident that they would be supported through government allowances. Men who habitually sow their seeds everywhere would also not take responsibility for their offspring, thinking, ‘Goromente o tla reka metseto.’ The needy should be empowered to embrace family planning. It doesn’t make sense to keep having children that you cannot afford to raise them. Mongwe le mongwe o tshwanetse go itekanya morwalo. 

Moving right along, if prostitution were legalised, brothels would be regulated and taxed. This would also mean that prostitutes have open access to health services, and are legally protected. Some prostitutes are raped, robbed and exposed to diseases in “their line of duty”, because they are disempowered to negotiate safe sex, and have nowhere to turn when they are harassed or abused. We are still in denial that prostitution exists. We forget that its not only women who stand on street corners hissing, “Me-nice, me-nice, this other one sour.” Transactional sex takes place across our society, across class, age and class. 

With regard to abortion, I am pro-choice and believe people should do what they want with their bodies. We need to come to terms with the fact that, women own themselves. Whether a woman wants to have a dozen babies, terminate a pregnancy, sleep around or be celibate, it’s her prerogative, as long as she can deal with the consequences of her actions and live with her decisions. 

 I have observed that some men are usually very vocal about issues of pregnancy and abortion. They throw around statements like, “Abortion is a sin”, or “It’s evil”. Bringing an unwanted or unplanned child into the world is what is evil…

 There are several factors to consider before having a child like, support structure, finances, emotional and psychological preparedness or future career plans. A woman may miscalculate her plans, or change her mind about continuing with the pregnancy, which would lead to her considering terminating the pregnancy. Of course there other factors like the pregnancy being the result of rape, or when her health is endangered.  However, the legality of abortion shouldn’t make some women think its contraception. Abortion should be a last resort for any woman. After all, as you lay, surely you knew you’d get knocked up, except if you “playing Mary”. 

Many cases of street abortions have been reported in our country.

Street abortions are dangerous because they are conducted under haphazard and unhygienic conditions. A legalized abortion facility on the other hand would have trained gynecologists and counselors. We need to approach sexuality holistically, and if government invested in a functional and practical sexual reproduction facility, we would have reduced cases of babies being thrown out and women or falling sick. Perhaps, eventually, unwanted pregnancies would decrease because women would be empowered to make decisions about their bodies. 

What has always struck me is that most people lean their arguments on tradition and religion. However, both are stagnant social institutions, which oppress women. The circumstances we live under are quite different from the past years. 

We also seem to forget that men often initiate and propose sex. Why is it that few men can acknowledge their irresponsibility in sexual reproduction issues? Why are men often reduced to mere spectators? 

In the same breath, women should realise that as a human being, you have a duty to protect yourself. Gone are the days when a woman lay like an ironing board and the man did what he wanted with her.

No woman was designed solely for a man’s pleasure.

Men should respect women’s decisions regarding sexuality and reproduction. If we are indeed the democratic society we claim to be, we should challenge sexist, misogynist and chauvinist mentalities and awaken to the fact that women, like all people, should have options, which are legally supported.