The media has been charged to lead the campaign against unsafe abortions which continue to claim the lives of women and young girls in the country.
According to a Project and Advocacy Officer with the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), Michael Tagoe, contrary to common beliefs held that abortion was illegal in the country and it was actually permissible by law.
“Under Sections 58 and 59 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), abortion is permissible in cases of rape, incest, foetal abnormalities, or situations where the pregnancy poses a risk to the physical or mental health of the woman and the media must champion this to minimise the use of unsafe means of ending pregnancies,” he explained.
Mr Tagoe gave the advice during a three-day workshop organised by the PPAG for selected journalists from various media houses in the country on how to effectively communicate on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) issues.
It was aimed at equipping the journalists with the needed skills to enhance their reportage on SRHR and also play advocacy roles as partners in health service delivery.
Participants were taken through topics such as overview of SRHR, teenage pregnancy and contraceptives, human rights and comprehensive abortion care, communicating abortion, sexual and gender-based violence, reproductive health education (RHE), service delivery and advocacy, and gender-transformative advocacy (GTA) for RHE.
Mr Tagoe also advised the public not to be hostile, particularly against teenage girls who found themselves pregnant but instead offer them support in diverse ways to enable them navigate the journey.
He announced safe spaces, including PPAG’s “Yenkasa”, a digital contact centre with toll free number -0800202010- to meet the changing SRHR needs of young people nationwide.
The Project Leader for the EmpowHER project, Naadu Awuradwoa Addico, urged journalists to integrate GTA into their reporting, challenge harmful stereotypes, and create narratives that empower individuals to make informed reproductive health decisions.
“This approach ensures that whatever you are doing is challenging norms or transforming unequal power structures and gender stereotypes.
The stories we tell can either improve access to reproductive health services or create more barriers. It’s up to us to ensure that reproductive health education is factual, inclusive, and culturally relevant,” she urged.
For his part, the Director of Programmes & Service Delivery, Emmanuel Okanta Akoto, reaffirmed PPAG’s commitment to working with the media to sustain conversations around SRHR and to ensure that policies and programmes reflect the needs of vulnerable groups, especially women and girls.
He urged journalists and media practitioners to actively advocate for Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) education and services, ensuring that women and young people can access these essential services without fear, discrimination or victimisation.
