Editor,

Abortion  has of recent truly become a hot-button issue in Rwanda. Recently, Health Development Initiative (HDI), an NGO that promotes community-based healthcare development was quoted in media reports arguing that abortion should be legalised.

The HDI programmes manager, Cassien Havugimana reportedly said criminalising abortion would be a hindrance for Rwanda to achieve the MDG 5 which aims at reducing maternal mortality. Let us all appreciate that abortion is a major social issue.

To date, we have been treating abortion as a problem in itself, because we view it as a murder, rather than seeing it as a symptom of a greater problem.

While debate on this particular issue will continue to dominate our society for long, there is a need to educate our women and girls about contraception.

Hence, for now, the ban on voluntary abortion is a moral imperative which should continue to be enforced.

Wenceslas Rugwizangoga

Kigali city