An abortion is a medical or surgical procedure that deliberately ends a pregnancy before an embryo or foetus is born. Many of us these days have turned a blind eye on the fact that abortion has been on a rise in Namibia, politicians, activists and others have chosen to base more focus on gender-based violence whilst lives of unborn babies have been sidelined.

There are countless reasons behind child abortion in the world at large, it could be the mother’s age, whereas many our elders always chose to force the innocent girls to abort using traditional methods or taking their child to a medical doctor. The other reasons behind this could be the fear of their parent’s response or stigmatisation from peers. 

It could be the fear of baby support, the stress of thinking about how she and the baby will survive. Unplanned pregnancies, having multiple partners to the point whereby you don’t even know the real father, unstable relationships, and many more. 
These factors can cause girls and grown women to do an abortion. The decision to have an abortion is usually motivated by more than one factor. While improved contraceptive use can help reduce unintended pregnancy and abortion, some abortions will remain difficult to prevent, because of limits to women’s ability to determine and control all circumstances of their lives.

There are those of us who support woman’s rights, we choose abortion with an argument that access to safe, legal abortions is a human right. In Roe v. Wade (1973), the US Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protects a woman’s right to an abortion through the end of the first trimester or the twelfth week of pregnancy. After twelve weeks, a woman’s access to abortion may be restricted based on the discretion of the states, as well as the level of risk that the pregnancy poses to the woman’s health.

The opponents of abortion also argue that a foetus is a developing human person, and has the basic human right to live. Abortion is thus considered murder. The Bible clearly tells us that we are not allowed to murder our fellow human beings: “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13), therefore killing defenceless children is an abomination in God’s sight.
What should the Namibian government do about this?

Firstly, most of us Namibians believe in the mighty God, the majority of us are Christians therefore as a God-loving nation, we should act according to our scripts. If you find yourself in a situation like this, confess your sin and ask for forgiveness (1 John 1:9; 1 John 2:1-2). Although abortion is a serious sin, there is no reason to think that God wouldn’t forgive you. He forgives murderers if they repent.
The Namibian government should support women by creating regional-based platforms at the hospitals, where mothers who are not willing to support or have their babies under their watch may willingly give their babies to the government. They can also try to introduce a fund and provide support to parents who cannot afford to support their babies. 

More education and campaigns should be done to motivate women and encourage them to do ethical things. The issue of the use of contraceptives and made available in all corners of the country should be encouraged since the most remote corners of Namibia do not have clinics and at most of the time contraceptives are always unavailable in accessible areas. 
Abortion should be discouraged at all cost and the spirit of saving lives should be at the forefront.