On June 24th, 2022 the US Supreme Court over ruled a decision that was made by the same court in 1973. The court then ruled that the constitution of the United States generally protects the liberty to choose to have an abortion during the Roe v. Wade case.

Kuchu Times Media Group ran a poll on her twitter platform to establish if netizens thought this over turn would affect global policing and specifically affect policies around the rights of women, sexual/gender minorities and sex workers. The polls came back 73% of netizens certain this overturn will affect global policies for these minority groups. When David Cameron became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after Theresa May, he apologized for the role of colonization in homophobia throughout the British colonies. This is an example of how 1st world countries affect policies in the countries they support.

One grassroot NGO in Northern Uganda that was given support by USAID in early 2020 said all their staff had to take a short course in abortion and pledge to not offer the service but however can offer post abortion care. It was deemed illegal to use funds from USAID to carry out abortions. I think this example paints a picture on the direct impact this will have before we even factor the copy cat system of African leaders who duplicate foreign oppressive laws faster than photocopiers.

While all hope looks lost from the countries we have all been looking up to, Africa is leading by example and challenging the oppressive laws. On 1st July, 2022, during the 10th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio announced his government had unanimously backed a bill that would decriminalize abortion in the country. This came exactly a week after the Roe v. Wade overturn. As African countries, we can only pray that our copy cat leaders copy from President Julius and not the US.