Notes to broadcasters
Notes for broadcasters
Abortion is the premature termination of a pregnancy. In Mali, there are several forms of abortion, including spontaneous abortion, commonly known as a “miscarriage.” This can be due to illness or have no known cause. There is also abortion induced, often in a clandestine manner, outside the legal framework of her country of residence.
Apart from Benin, where abortion is legal, other West African countries allow abortion under well-defined conditions: if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or if the mother’s life is in danger.
According to a 2022 United Nations report, 50% of pregnancies in Mali are unwanted. This leads to young girls and women having clandestine abortions. The same report shows that almost 60% of Malian women are in this kind of situation.
In this radio script, we’ll talk to three people: a woman who has had an illegal abortion, a midwife, and a sociologist. With them, we will discuss the causes and consequences of clandestine abortion. We will also discuss when a woman can legally receive medical help to have an abortion, and the benefits of raising awareness to save young girls from clandestine abortions.
If you want to make programs about clandestine abortion, you could talk to a woman who has had a clandestine abortion, a midwife, and experts such as sociologist, psychologists, or social workers. You might ask your interviewees the following questions:
- What was your experience of clandestine abortion?
- What are the causes and consequences of this practice?
- What does the law say in your country say about abortion?
Duration of program, including intro and extro: 25 to 30 minutes.
Script
HOST:
Dear listeners, welcome to your weekly program on your favourite radio station.
We are honoured to have three guests in the studio to discuss the topic of the day: clandestine abortion. We’ll be discussing the causes, consequences, and possible solutions to prevent clandestine abortions, which often endanger women’s lives.
We’ll hear from our first guest, Mrs. Sitan Traoré, a literacy teacher who is raising awareness in her community about the importance of legal abortion. This will be followed by our second guest, Mrs. Berthe Diarafa Sissoko, who is a midwife at the Centre médico-social in Bamako’s Commune V. Finally, we’ll hear a sociologist’s views on the subject. The sociologist is Amos Goïta, who teaches at private universities in Ségou.
HOST:
Hello and welcome to our radio station, Mrs. Sitan Traoré!
SITAN TRAORE:
Hello and thank you to your listeners.
HOST:
You had an illegal abortion when you were young. Can you tell us what that was like for you?
SITAN TRAORE:
I realized that I was pregnant when I was 17. My parents didn’t approve of my relationship, so I panicked at the thought of people finding out. When I told my boyfriend, he didn’t want to have a baby and told me to have an abortion.
HOST:
Thank you, Mrs. Sitan, for your courage in telling us your story. What did you decide to do following your boyfriend’s suggestion?
SITAN TRAORE:
He gave me the money, and he also made sure that I found the medicine that would remove my pregnancy, which was already more than six weeks. We got the medicine and I took it, praying that everything would go well. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I started losing blood, felt pain in my lower abdomen, was dizzy, and became increasingly weak. I was lucky that I was staying with my grandmother for the weekend and she was indulgent. Because if my father had known, I would have been in serious trouble.
HOST:
How did you get through it?
SITAN TRAORE:
On the third day with no news from me, my older sister went to my grandmother’s house to see if everything was all right. When she saw the state I was in, she knew immediately what I’d done. She decided to take me to see a nurse who was kind enough to treat me outside the hospital, as it wasn’t possible to take me straight to the emergency unit. We were scared about the questions we might be asked because the abortion would have been illegal. But, because of this care, I was able to get back on my feet after being in pain for nearly five days.
HOST:
A touching story, but tell us: were there any consequences after the nurse’s care?
SITAN TRAORE:
Fortunately not. The nurse’s care was possible thanks to my sister, but I know that this isn’t the case for all the girls who have illegal abortions.
HOST:
Why did you decide to raise awareness in your community about the option of legal abortion?
SITAN TRAORE:
So that women don’t have to suffer the trauma of an unsafe abortion. I live with the psychological consequences of an illegal abortion and I don’t want that to happen to another woman. Although I am now a happy mother, it wasn’t easy at the beginning of my marriage. I had to wait four years and undergo medical treatment before I could get pregnant. That’s why I use my job as a teacher to raise awareness in my community.
HOST:
How do you raise awareness in your community about legal abortion?
SITAN TRAORE:
I run literacy classes in my home town of Kita, which is about 400 kilometres from the Kayes region of Mali. I teach reading and writing to adult men and women who haven’t had the chance to go to school. During our classes, we discuss issues that affect the social life of the community. Clandestine abortion is an issue that undermines our society, so I discuss it with parents to find ways of integrating sex education into their children’s education at home.
HOST:
What advice do you have for young people and parents?
SITAN TRAORE:
I’d like to take this opportunity to urge young people, especially girls, to be patient. When we’re young, let’s take advantage of our youth to learn, train, and do things that will be useful for our future. And for young people who can’t refrain from sex, I humbly advise them to use contraceptives such as pills or condoms. I urge parents to build a closer relationship with their children in order to cultivate trust. Then, their children will no longer be afraid to confide in them when they have problems.
HOST:
Thank you very much, Mrs. Sitan Traoré, for accepting our invitation, and now let’s move on to our second guest, Mrs. Berthe Diarafa Sissoko, who is a midwife at the Centre médico-social in Bamako’s Commune V district. Hello and welcome, Mrs. Berthe.
BERTHE DIARAFA:
Good morning to you and to all our friends behind their radios. Thank you for having me on your radio.
HOST:
We were talking about the voluntary and clandestine termination of pregnancies. What do you think are the consequences?
BERTHE DIARAFA:
First of all, Malian law prohibits abortion except in exceptional cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother. This means that most young women who want to have an abortion do so clandestinely. In addition, Malian society is very religious. If a woman dares to have an abortion, she is considered an outcast by her community. The physical consequences can include infection, incomplete evacuation, perforation of the uterus, hemorrhage, and damage to the woman’s genital tract. Clandestine abortions can lead to complications and sometimes death.
HOST:
Tell us, Mrs. Diarafa, do you have a system in place at your medical centre to support women or girls who decide to have an abortion?
BERTHE DIARAFA:
We don’t have a real system in our departments. But we receive very few young women who want to end their pregnancies because they fear being judged by their elders. These young women prefer to have an illegal abortion. By the time we see them, the damage has already been done and they come to us in a deplorable state where we have to act quickly to save their lives. It should also be said that, as midwives, when we see young women in the early stages of pregnancy, we give them advice and tell them what they should do and what choices they have.
HOST:
What advice do you have for young Malians, especially young girls, who resort to clandestine abortion?
BERTHE DIARAFA:
First of all, I’d like to make it clear that in Mali abortion is only allowed in cases of rape, incest, or fetal malformation, and to save the life of the mother if she is in danger. If, as a young girl, you find yourself in a case that involves rape, incest, or fetal malformation, there is no guarantee that you can get from a legal abortion. So my advice to young girls, and also to young men, is to protect yourselves during sexual acts if you know you cannot abstain. Family planning programs are now available in almost all medical and social centres. There are also free services provided by certain NGOs to help young people who want to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Family planning is also a possible solution, so I advise you to always make the right choice.
HOST:
Our sincere thanks to Mrs. Berthe Diarafa Sissoko for enlightening us with all these answers. We now welcome our third guest: Mr. Amos Goïta, a sociologist who teaches at private universities in Ségou. Hello Mr. Amos, welcome to our program.
AMOS GOÏTA:
Thank you for having me on.
HOST:
Tell us, how does Malian society view clandestine abortion?
AMOS GOÏTA:
Malian society has an extremely harsh view of clandestine abortion. Basically, Mali is a country with a Muslim majority and, according to Islam, clandestine abortion is
haram or forbidden. And the country’s laws are also along the same lines. So when a woman finds herself in this situation, she is stigmatized and ostracized by her elders.
HOST:
What can be done to change society’s attitude and to bring about a change in the law on illegal abortion?
AMOS GOÏTA:
Human life is sacred in the eyes of Malian society, so abortion in itself is viewed very unfavourably. I think that Malians are so attached to their social values that nothing is going to change in that respect. What we can do is break the taboos around sexuality and sex education so that we can talk about it freely. This will make it easier to talk to teenagers about all the issues related to sexuality.
HOST:
Mr. Amos, thank you for your presentation.
According to our guests, in Mali, abortion is only allowed in cases of rape, incest, or when the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother-to-be. Our guests also stressed the importance of parents discussing sexuality with their children within the family. Raising awareness continues to be an important lever for changing behaviour.
This brings us to the end of today’s program. We’d like to thank all our guests and all of you who are following us. See you next week for another program.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
Contributed by: Assibavi Sika Isabelle AGBOGBE, freelance journalist, Radio
business consultant
Reviewed by: Lalia Diop, training/quality assurance officer, MSI Mali, and trainer
of SRH/post-abortion care service providers
Interviews:
Madame Sitan Traoré, literacy teacher in Kita, Mali, and survivor of clandestine abortion. Interview conducted on April 20, 2023.
Mrs. Berthe Diarafa Sissoko, midwife, Centre Médico-Social (CMS), Bamako’s Commune V. Interview conducted on April 26, 2023.
Mr. Amos Goïta, teacher and sociologist at private universities in Ségou. Interview conducted on April 29, 2023.
Information sources
UNFPA Mali, 2022. Comprendre L’Imperceptible : Agir Pour Résoudre La Crise Oubliée Des Grosses Non Intentionnelles. https://mali.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/brochure_swop_2.pdf
World Health Organization, 2021. Abortion. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abortion
This resource was produced thanks to the “HÉRÈ – Bien-être des femmes au Mali” initiative, which aims to improve the well-being of women and girls in the area of sexual and reproductive health and to strengthen the prevention of and response to gender-based violence in the regions of Sikasso, Ségou, Mopti and the district of Bamako in Mali. The project is being implemented by the HÉRÈ – MSI Mali Consortium, in partnership with Farm Radio International (FRI) and Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), with funding from Global Affairs Canada.
