Why Are We Still Debating This?
N. Assad
Exactly one year ago, I miscarried. The baby I wanted and already loved was suddenly gone. I was in my second trimester. I nearly bled to death. But I didn’t, because the doctors acted quickly. They performed the procedure I needed, one that falls under the umbrella of “reproductive care.” One that saved my life.
I was lucky — lucky to be in the right hospital, lucky to have access to skilled doctors and safe care. But not every Sierra Leonean woman is as lucky as I was. Not every woman gets to survive.
This is exactly what the Safe Motherhood Bill is about — making sure no woman dies because she doesn’t have the privilege of access and ensuring no family loses their mother, wife, or sister to a preventable death.
And yet, here we are in 2025, debating whether women and girls deserve to live. The bill has already been stripped down to appease the loudest opponents, with the Ministry of Health limiting abortion rights to only the most extreme cases: rape, incest, severe fetal abnormalities, or threats to the mother’s life.
It’s not enough for many of us who believe in free choice, but it is still a step forward — a step toward saving lives. Because honestly, this bill is much more than abortion, despite what your Pastor or Imam might preach. Stripping it further, as the Inter-Religious Council demands, will render it meaningless. As President Bio and Dr. Aisha Fofana Ibrahim reminded us at the recent State House convening, the bill’s essence is to protect women. Diluting it any further would be a betrayal of that promise, leaving maternal deaths to continue devastating families, while countless women suffer in silence.
The Inter-Religious Council cloaks their objections in morality, but their stance is rooted in fear and control. Where was their outrage when a 5-year-old girl was raped and killed? Or when another 5-year-old was raped and left permanently disabled? Where were their prayers and sermons when Rainbo Initiative announced 2,763 Cases of Gender-Based Violence Survivors in 2023?
They were silent then, as they are now on the approximately 1,400 women that die every year from pregnancy and childbirth complications. And yet, they demand that Parliament bends to their version of morality — a morality that ignores the reality of women bleeding out on backstreet abortion tables because they had no safe options.
Parliament holds the power to save lives. And I hope they know that women’s lives are not a negotiation. Pass the Safe Motherhood Bill.
“As a secular state, it is the responsibility of Parliament not to be timid…”
-President Julius Maada Bio, Jan 2025
To the Inter-Religious Council, duya ona focus on ona congregation and allow the state for protect ein citizen dem.
Mi Salone People, this is your moment too. Speak up. Demand better. This bill could be the difference between life and death for someone you love.
Because when I think back to my miscarriage, to the care that saved me, I can’t help but wonder… What if I hadn’t been so lucky? What if there hadn’t been a doctor ready to act? What if the hospital had turned me away, citing conscience and bureaucracy? What if the laws of this country had left me to bleed out on my bathroom floor? And why should luck determine whether a woman lives or dies?
NO ONE should have to fight for their life simply because they are a woman.
To find out more about feminist campaigning towards the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Care Bill in Sierra Leone click here.
To find out more about Purposeful and our work visit wearepurposeful.org
