Members of Parliament in the Lower Chamber yesterday unanimously passed the draft law regulating reproductive health in the country while enabling more awareness about family planning. Members of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Affairs who analysed the Bill say it has helped to highlight the government’s role in sensitising people about reproductive health and family planning while Rwandans are also better told about their responsibilities in reproductive health. “The law will basically help strengthen sensitisation about family planning because it shows both the people and the government’s obligations when it comes to reproductive health and family planning. So, the law will help in both sensitisation and delivery of family planning services,” said MP Marie Rose Mureshyankwano, the Committee chairperson. MP Gaston Rusiha, a member of the committee, agrees, saying the law will be instrumental in changing people’s behaviours and attitudes about their reproductive health. “The law is basically a guide about reproductive health. It is also clear in the law that the government has to ensure that people get access to reproductive health services,” he said. Tabled before Parliament in 2008 as a private members’ Bill, the draft law seeks to govern reproductive health by determining the rights and obligations of every Rwandan and duties of the government in relation to reproductive health. The legislation mainly details people’s obligation and right to choose the number of children they want to have, the right to access reproductive health services such as birth control pills, condoms, safe childbirth, and children’s sex education, among others. Previously, legislators in both chambers of Parliament could not agree on whether such a law is needed in the country, with most debates about the Bill calling for further consultations about it. Those who initially opposed the passing of the draft law had argued that it looked more like instructions about reproductive health and it didn’t provide for sanctions in case people failed to implement what it is asking them to do. Others had also castigated the Bill for failing to regulate the number of children a family should have and didn’t see the reason why it had to be enacted into law if it still left the number of children to have as a private matter. MP Rusiha had said during debates about the Bill last November that it didn’t bring anything new as it talked about things that are already regulated and imposed no restrictions on people’s ordinary way of life. But, yesterday, he sounded positive, saying he had finally understood that the law was needed mainly to up sensitisation about family planning and push the envelope about the provision of related services. “It’s a good law,” he told The New Times yesterday. As for legislators who had consistently pushed for the Bill to be passed, they argued that it was necessary to emphasise the need for family planning and access to reproduction health services. “The idea behind the law is to draw attention to the fact that people should be more responsible about their reproductive health,” says MP Juvenal Nkusi, one of seven legislators who initiated the Bill eight years ago. Many of the provisions in the draft law are already taken for granted by Rwandans, from the right to access reproductive health services, the right to choose the number of children that families can have, and the obligation of public health facilities to treat victims of gender-based violence. The Bill law governing reproductive health issues now awaits the President’s assent before its publication in the official gazette. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
