I bring you greetings from Uganda, Mr. Chairman and your committee members.
As you rightly said, I am Lucy Akello, a member of Parliament from Uganda.
Africa has a long history of colonization—just like Canada—and of people, foreign governments and foreign-led organizations telling us what is good for us or what our priorities should be.
I will speak from the context of an African woman, a mother and a legislator. I speak not just for myself but for the constituents who have asked me to speak on their behalf about their priorities and concerns. Clear polling data shows that what I will tell you is overwhelmingly in line with public opinion throughout Africa. I pray that my submission is as candid as you would like it to be.
I'll speak first about abortion.
Our people are still loyal to religious truths and cultures. Canada, too, has its beautiful cultures. It seems that no matter how much money is spent on making abortion look good, our people still see through the money, marketing and mass education. The women I represent are able to see through this. We believe life starts from conception, and where I come from, once conception takes place, it is life. Even when you have a miscarriage, that life is given a decent burial, irrespective of the sex.
Africa generally finds abortion repugnant. A survey of 2014 by Ipsos Synovate, for example, found that 87% of Kenyans oppose the thought of killing an unborn child. This nationwide Kenyan survey echoed the findings of a 2013 global study by Pew Research Center that asked 40,117 respondents in 40 countries what they thought about various moral issues, including abortion. The overwhelming majority of Africans said that abortion was morally unacceptable, with 92% of Ghanaians, 88% of Ugandans, 82% of Kenyans, 80% of Nigerians and 77% of Tunisians saying they considered abortion to be morally wrong.
Almost 80% of African countries have some sort of law prohibiting and restricting abortion, and it is predicated on a widely held belief that unborn babies have a right to live and deserve to be protected by law. With this prevalent view of the issue of abortion, most people are satisfied with these laws. There are hardly any locally organized complaints, demonstrations or protests calling for the legalization of abortion. On the contrary, there have been many pro-life rallies, marches and conferences in various countries, expressing the people's desire for the continued protection of the unborn.
Globally, crisis pregnancy facilities are vilified as misinformation or disinformation centres. Postabortion recovery programs for women who have been wounded by abortion, or who would like to find emotional and psychological healing are not a common occurrence in Africa. The result is that the trauma they have suffered follows them because there's no one who tells them before they carry out the abortion.
On family planning, to the women I represent, the term “family planning” is synonymous with contraception. This is how it has been sold to them. When one says they are on family planning, they mean they are on contraception. However, women are hurting from the side effects of hormonal contraception, and they talk about it with each other. Contraceptive side effects are a major deterrent to the consistent use of contraception, and women who experience bleeding-specific side effects are most likely to make a choice of contraceptive discontinuation and switching.
On the issue of comprehensive sexuality education, the parents I represent see this as an assault to the health and innocence of children.
Mr. Chairman, in the interest of time, I recommend that the Canadian government and this Parliament look more at keeping the girl child at school as opposed to giving them contraceptives. Where I come from there is a push to put girls even as young as 13 or 14 onto contraception. What does this do to a young girl?
I also recommend that you respect Uganda's sovereignty.
Thank you so much.