“Anytime that Africans are asked, the answer is always unanimous: we do not want abortion”.
Filmmaker and social activist Obianuju Ekeocha along with many people from across Africa, have made a public plea to the Biden Administration to not fund abortion in Africa.
Last month, President Joe Biden revoked the Mexico City Policy that ensured that federal funding was not spent on abortions outside the United States. This will likely result in a large increase in funds being made available to global abortion providers that target developing countries, including MSI Reproductive Choices, International Planned Parenthood Foundation and DKT International.
Ekeocha says that international abortion organisations will now be able to work in Africa with the backing of the US “to then go into the developing world, the world of the poor essentially, to promote, to propagate and to provide abortions. This means the elimination of my people. This means the death and killing of the most innocent of the African unborn babies”.
‘In my culture, we support life from the beginning to the end’
In response to this move, Obianuju Ekeocha from Culture of Life Africa has released a video in which she asks Africans from across the continent what they think of Biden’s plan to fund abortions in Africa.
A student, Ellen said: “In my culture, we support life from the beginning to the end. I’m against abortion because abortion is about killing innocent babies in the womb of their mothers. And I’m also against funding of abortion in Africa by any foreign country. So please stop funding abortion”.
Khanani Daniella, a Ugandan lawyer, explained that she does not want abortion in Africa “the African problem cannot be solved by giving money to remove children”.
Other participants focused on what they consider to be the skewed ideological priorities of a foreign Government that would promote abortion in Africa when there are so many other basic needs which need to be addressed.
A student named Antoinnette said: “I cannot understand why other foreign countries are in support of funding abortion in Africa. When in Africa here, there are a lot of developments that need to be done and they are not done. So I am not in support of funding abortion in Africa”.
A teacher made a similar point saying: “We Africans don’t need funds for abortion, but funds to help the needy, the poor, the weak, the sick and the homeless”.
‘Will Joe Biden just be the neo-colonial master like many other Western leaders?’
Family Counselor, Aicha, echoed the sentiment saying: “We need drinkable water, we need education, we need good governance. Abortion is not an African problem… We beg you not to fund abortion-related programs in Africa. We have real problems in Africa and it is not abortion”.
Stella Maris, Beauty Entrepreneur, focused on the same theme: “Five things Nigeria needs more than abortions: Poverty alleviation, employment, education, electricity and better infrastructure. Please help us, don’t kill us”.
The above is a small sample taken from the video which gives the testimony of many Africans and why they oppose the imposition of abortion on the continent. As Ekeocha points out, the message is clear: “Africans do not want abortion”.
Ekeocha ends her video with a direct challenge to the Biden Administration.
“The question now is this: will President Joe Biden listen to us? Will he recognise the voice of the African people? Will he respect the cries of the heart of the ordinary African person? Or will he just be the neo-colonial master like many other Western leaders? Will he be the one to come in to force his own ideas and ideologies in the world of the poor?”
Neo-colonialism
Ekeocha has previously accused Western nations of ‘neo-colonialism’ due to their efforts to impose abortion on Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. While many African nations are in desperate need of ventilators, the UK Government gave an extra £10 million to the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) targeted at developing nations, including a number of African countries, which includes spending on abortion.
The UN has provided additional funding to a number of African nations this year in the form of ‘Covid Relief Funds’. However, Ekeocha has claimed that this funding is coming “with conditions and clauses that either directly or indirectly open the door to the international abortion organisations, as Western donors are demanding… more access to sexual and reproductive health and rights [abortion]”.
Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “Obianuju Ekeocha’s accusation of neo-colonialism through the promotion of a foreign abortion ideology onto Africa is true. The testimony which Ekeocha has gathered shows the concerns of people actually living in Africa, rather than of those in the White House”.
“The culture in Africa is far more pro-life than the West, with polls in Kenya showing 85% of people are firmly opposed to abortion. Local campaigners in other African countries have also revealed that the majority of citizens are opposed to abortions within their own countries too”.
