Politics
Tuesday January 2, 2007
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African Nation of Togo Succumbs to UN Pressure and Expands Abortion Access
By Cassidy Bugos
LOME, January 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The West African country of Togo has succumbed to pressure from the United Nations to expand its previously limited access to abortion. New legislation allows abortion in cases where the woman has become pregnant through rape or incest, and when the child can be verified to have a strong risk of serious illness. As in most African countries, abortion was previously illegal in Togo except when necessary to save the life of the mother.
The new law states: “The voluntary interruption of pregnancy is only authorized when prescribed by a doctor and on request of the woman in cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape or of an incestuous relationship.”
However, the law goes on to add that abortion will also be available “if there is a strong risk that the unborn child will be affected by a particularly serious medical condition.” How such risks will be verified is unclear since ultrasound examinations in Togo are very rare.
The Togo government has previously demonstrated concern for the country’s rate of teenage and out-of-wedlock pregnancies. Impregnating a girl who is enrolled in college or in an apprenticeship remains a criminal offence subject to imprisonment and fines of up to 500,000 CFA francs. However, critics of the new Togo law question whether legalizing abortion for cases of rape and incest won’t offer a kind of protection to such offenders.
Togo’s high birthrate of 6 children per woman has undoubtedly made it a prime target of UN de-populationists who have been pushing to bring Africa in line with the now plummeting birthrates in other continents.
In a series of committee meetings late last January, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) reviewed the compliance reports of 8 countries. Although abortion is not part of CEDAW’s mandate, a UN press release on the meeting with Togolese representatives records that the committee criticized Togo’s abortion law, and called for its expansion. (see the full release here: http://www.un.org./News/Press/docs/2006/wom1529.doc.htm )
See related LifeSite News coverage:
Leading United Nations Abortion advocate a Prof at a Pontifical Catholic University
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06020802.html
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