Editor,

RE: "Abortion: A more compassionate approach is necessary” (The New Times, September 30).

It is sad to hear that our Rwandan women have been denied the unconditional right to abortion. I say "unconditional” because—for a woman to have an abortion—she needs permission from third parties. The third parties.

Imagine the typical shy Rwandan woman telling a another stranger that she had been raped!

Rwandan women have to be sensitized about their rights. Meanwhile, an amendment to Article 162 of the Constitution is necessary. It will fit in with the rights of women. After all, they are human beings.

Mike

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Thank you very much for the passionate and strong argument you’ve made in favour of the unborn babies.

As you rightly put it, if these "little ones” had the ability to stake their plight to the world’s legislative arenas for justice, their reasonable cause would be easily heard. Alas, they are not. But because they yet can cry or talk, these irresponsible debates of whether or not it is a woman’s right to decide the fate of the yet baby born shouldn’t be entertained to continue.

This attitude often drives me close to tears to see how humans can be so senseless and selfish—when it’s against the others, then theories of the "survival of the fittest” are justified. You can imagine if such debates found some of us still inside the wombs and were aware it was about deciding on our life or death, and it’s by those who determined our being there in the first place. We would have very many sleepless nights.

You see, this woman and the child she is carrying are two unique individuals. Therefore, nobody has any right to decide his/her fate, including the mother. The mother can decide to die if she loves death but if she decides to kill the baby because she is the one carrying it, it is not proper.

By the way, not even the penal code has the right unless the unborn child committed a crime while in the womb, and even then for the case of Rwanda and many places that lifted capital punishments, the baby would still be considered for a life sentence.

To me, the responsibility should hang over the heads of the adults. If a woman is guilty of murdering her own unborn baby, she should be given a similar verdict as the woman who murdered her born child, and for a man who is found guilty of forcefully getting a woman to this predicament, he should be sent to gallows regardless of ties.

Incest shouldn’t be an excuse either, because we’ve heard of very close of relatives that had perfectly normal off-strings.

There should never be any excuse, whatsoever, that should warrant death sentence to an unborn person other than pregnancy complications.

Donart