By Ishaya Ibrahim
Women activists have accused the Nigeria Police of raiding a reproductive health clinic in Lagos on May 21, carting away confidential patients information.
In a statement signed by Education as a Vaccine,Nigerian Feminist Forum, Alliances for Africa,Women’s Crisis Centre, Project Alert and 12 others, it accused the police of harassing both health workers and patients of the clinic.
The clinic, Marie Stopes, it said to offer free and affordable family planning services to women and men, pregnancy tests, pre and post-natal care, treatment and services for sexually transmitted infections (STI), HIV testing and ultrasound and laboratory services.
“To raid a centre that provides such services is sending a message to women and girls as well as men and boys that they are not safe in health centres and that they don’t deserve access to quality health services without fear or judgement,” the statement reads.
The statement accused an anti-abortion organisation, CitizenGo of instigating the attack.
“These efforts to demonize and block access to legal services are being funded in Nigeria by a Spanish organisation called CitizenGO. CitizenGo is a partner to an SPLC designated hate group World Congress of Families and the city of Madrid has banned their activities calling their campaigns hate based.
“CitizenGo and its extremist partners have been organising training in Nigeria and Kenya within the past 18 months, trying to block women’s access to critical healthcare. They should not be allowed to instigate the harassment of women making informed choices about their health and health workers who are provided life-affirming services. They are an intolerant group and they are bringing their hate mongering to Nigeria.
“This group has set up camp in Nigeria and are propagating false and unfounded sensational narratives in places like Enugu, Imo, and Nairobi under the guise of religious and moral obligations. They must not be allowed to instigate hate and oppression in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. Hate is not part of our culture, and we reject the importation on intolerance by foreign organisations. This is a coordinated attack on the rights of women, girls, and marginalized persons and we must say NO to their oppressive tactics,” the statement reads.
Those who signed the statement said it was disheartening that women right for reductive care was being attacked at a time the country is contributing 10 per cent to the global burden of maternal deaths, after Sierra Leone, Chad and the Central African Republic.
“Women and girls are dying from preventable deaths because of lack of access to quality sexual and reproductive health services.
“Family planning is the conscious choice by people to limit or space the number of children they have through the use of contraception. And 19 per cent of married women in Nigeria has an unmet need for family planning services. Marie Stopes shouldn’t be punished for offering a spectrum of services, including family planning, to those who need and want it, especially women, married and unmarried.
“The work being done by organisations like Marie Stopes is necessary to dispel myths, provide counselling on the right modern method of birth control and help women and men space their children,” the statement reads.
