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Mail & Guardian
02-06-2025
- General
- Mail & Guardian
African values under threat: African Commission must defend them
Organisations such as CitizenGo, Family Watch International, Family Policy Institute and Christian Council International promote opposition to abortion, LGBTI rights, reproductive healthcare and comprehensive sexuality education. A poster featuring an all-white male panel of speakers from Europe, the US and other regions circulated online, promoting a pan-African conference on African Family Values. The line-up was a tell-tale sign of yet another event underwritten by Global North actors with a clear anti-rights agenda. The organisers were The main speakers were from organisations such as CitizenGo, Family Watch International, Family Policy Institute and Christian Council International, as well as churches and parliamentarians. These were also among the supporters and sponsors for the event. These organisations are known for conservative family and societal values advocating for what they call 'traditional family values'. The event organisers, African Christian Professionals Forum, has deep ties with these organisations including some of its board members At its Event participants not only advocate in their countries on these topics but also at regional forums, including the African Union, and at the international level. Civil society has The 2025 Convention on Eliminating Violence against Women and Girls is thought to be their next advocacy target. They will probably argue that this treaty This conference comes at a time of The conference was attended by MPs from Uganda and Malawi and Kenyan lawyers. This is unsurprising since there have long been reports that US groups have The language of 'African values' emerged at the regional level in 2018 when the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), the continent's highest human rights body, at the instruction of the African Union, In 2022 the ACHPR, this time on its own accord, then But what does it mean to be African? What are African values? The African Charter empowers the ACHPR to undertake studies and research to address such questions. The ACHPR then uses these studies as a basis for principles and rules to guide African governments. In this vein, in 2023 the African Commission In answering this question, there are three key areas the ACHPR should consider. First is a recognition that African families are incredibly diverse. The drafters of the African Charter acknowledged that African society is far too complex to be neatly compartmentalised. It was for this reason that the charter deliberately fails to define the notion of 'peoples', in clear recognition of the diversity of African families, societies and communities. The ACHPR must likewise not confine African identities to cis-gender and heterosexual, nor restrict the concept of the African family to a nuclear model. Second is that the principle of non-discrimination permeates the charter and provides the touchstone of the African concept of human rights. The charter affirms that 'every individual shall respect and consider his fellow beings without discrimination and to maintain relations aimed at promoting, safeguarding and reinforcing mutual respect and tolerance'. The charter's drafters entrenched the idea of non-discrimination because, at the time, African leaders were focused on liberation from colonialism and racism. Indeed, the document broke new ground by prohibiting ethnic discrimination, a prohibition not found in other international agreements at the time. Non-discrimination against LGBTI people is firmly within both the letter and spirit of the African Charter's values. And finally that LGBTI identities are firmly ensconced in African values historically. Same-sex sexualities and gender diversity were With anti-rights actors co-opting African values using neo-colonial tactics, there is greater urgency for the ACHPR to reclaim African values and redefine them in accordance with the African Charter. Drawing on the wisdom of our forebears, the ACHPR must affirm that discrimination has no place in African societies. It should root its approach in both our pre-colonial histories and the present reality of millions of LGBTI Africans who are entitled to the same human rights as anyone else, no matter what opportunistic western anti-rights actors might say. African values must be used to advance inclusion, non-discrimination and equality, not exclusion and discrimination. Khanyo Faris is a senior researcher on civic space at Amnesty International, East and Southern Africa.
Washington Post
16-05-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Hospital tells family brain-dead Georgia woman must carry fetus to birth because of abortion ban
ATLANTA — A pregnant woman in Georgia who was declared brain dead after a medical emergency has been on life support for three months to let the fetus grow enough to be delivered, a move her family says a hospital told them was required under the state's strict anti-abortion law. With her due date still more than three months away, it could be one of the longest such pregnancies. Her family is upset that Georgia's law that restricts abortion once cardiac activity is detected doesn't allow relatives to have a say in whether a pregnant woman is kept on life support.
CBC
16-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Georgia hospital says it's following state law in continuing pregnancy of woman on life support
Social Sharing A pregnant woman in Georgia who was declared brain-dead after a medical emergency has been on life support for three months to let the fetus grow enough to be delivered, a move her family says a hospital told them was required under the state's strict anti-abortion law. Members of Adriana Smith's family say Emory University Hospital doctors have told them they are not allowed to stop or remove the devices that are keeping her breathing because state law bans abortion after cardiac activity can be detected — generally around six weeks into pregnancy. With the due date still more than three months away, it could be one of the longest such pregnancies. Her family is upset that Georgia's law that restricts abortion once cardiac activity is detected doesn't allow relatives to have a say in whether a pregnant woman is kept on life support. The law was adopted in 2019 but not enforced until after Roe v. Wade was overturned in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling by the Supreme Court, which opened the door to state abortion bans. Smith, a 30-year-old mother and nurse, was declared brain-dead in February, her mother, April Newkirk, told Atlanta TV station WXIA. Newkirk said Smith is now 21 weeks pregnant. Removing breathing tubes and other life-saving devices would likely kill the fetus. Emory Healthcare said it could not comment on an individual case because of privacy rules, but released a statement saying it "uses consensus from clinical experts, medical literature, and legal guidance to support our providers as they make individualized treatment recommendations in compliance with Georgia's abortion laws and all other applicable laws. Our top priorities continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients we serve." Twelve states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy and three others have bans like Georgia's that kick in after about six weeks. Like the others, Georgia's ban includes an exception if an abortion is necessary to maintain the woman's life. Legal confusion over rights of fetus Newkirk said her daughter had intense headaches more than three months ago and went to Atlanta's Northside Hospital, where she received medication and was released. The next morning, her boyfriend woke to her gasping for air and called 911. Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and she was declared brain-dead. Smith's family, including her five-year-old son, still visit her in the hospital. Newkirk told WXIA that doctors told the family that the fetus has fluid on the brain and that they're concerned about his health. "She's pregnant with my grandson. But he may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he's born," Newkirk said. She has not said whether the family wants Smith removed from life support. Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Georgia's abortion law, said the situation is problematic. "Her family deserved the right to have decision-making power about her medical decisions," Simpson said in a statement. "Instead, they have endured over 90 days of retraumatization, expensive medical costs, and the cruelty of being unable to resolve and move toward healing." Lois Shepherd, a bioethicist and law professor at the University of Virginia, said she does not believe life support is legally required in this case. But she said whether a state could insist Smith remains on life support is uncertain since the overturning of Roe, which found that fetuses do not have the rights of people. "Pre-Dobbs, a fetus didn't have any rights," Shepherd said. "And the state's interest in fetal life could not be so strong as to overcome other important rights, but now we don't know." Complications frequent in known cases Brain death in pregnancy is rare. Rarer still are cases in which doctors aim to prolong the pregnancy after a woman is declared brain-dead. A 2021 review scoured medical literature going back decades for cases in which doctors declared a woman brain-dead and aimed to prolong her pregnancy. It found 35. Of those, 27 resulted in a live birth, the majority either immediately declared healthy or with normal follow-up tests. But Dr. Vincenzo Berghella, who co-authored the study, also cautioned that the Georgia case was much more difficult because the pregnancy was less far along when the woman was declared brain-dead. In the 35 cases he studied, doctors were able to prolong the pregnancy by an average of just seven weeks before complications forced them to intervene. "It's just hard to keep the mother out of infection, out of cardiac failure," said Berghella, director of maternal fetal medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Berghella also found a case from Germany that resulted in a live birth when the woman was declared brain-dead at nine weeks of pregnancy — about as far along as Smith was when she died. Georgia's law confers personhood on a fetus. Those who favour personhood say fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born. Georgia state Sen. Ed Setzler, a Republican who sponsored the 2019 law, said he supported Emory's interpretation. "I think it is completely appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child," Setzler said. "I think this is an unusual circumstance, but I think it highlights the value of innocent human life. I think the hospital is acting appropriately." WATCH l Then-VP candidate Tim Walz on the death of Georgia woman Amber Thurman: Letting states decide abortion rules puts American lives in danger, Walz says 8 months ago Duration 1:41 During the CBS News Vice-Presidential Debate on Tuesday, Democratic nominee Tim Walz countered Republican nominee J.D. Vance's comment that states should make their own decisions about abortion by referring to the case of a Georgia woman who died while trying to access a legal procedure out of state. 'There's a very real chance, had Amber Thurman lived in Minnesota, she would be alive,' Walz said. Setzler said he believes it is sometimes acceptable to remove life support from someone who is brain-dead, but that the law is "an appropriate check" because the mother is pregnant. He said Smith's relatives have "good choices," including keeping the child or offering it for adoption. Georgia's abortion ban has been in the spotlight before. Last year, ProPublica reported that two Georgia women died after they did not get proper medical treatment for complications from taking abortion pills. The stories of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller entered the presidential race, with Democrat Kamala Harris saying the deaths were the result of the abortion bans that went into effect in Georgia and elsewhere after Dobbs.
