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Video NationYou are in: Tyne > Video Nation > Great To Be Alive ![]() Great To Be AliveBy Elewechi Okike Elewechi is originally from Nigeria, but now lives and works in the North East. Her own mother had tried to terminate her pregnancy as the family could not afford to bring up another child. This has made her really think about the ethics of abortion.
In Africa people give their children names which reflect the circumstances of their birth and family background. Only after she had her third child did Elewechi ask her mother the story behind her own first name, which means “Let’s look unto God for the future concerning this child”. It’s not a very common name in the part of Nigeria that Elewechi comes from, and she was shocked to find out that her father, upon learning of the latest pregnancy, had told her mother that they could not afford to feed another child, and she would have to try to terminate the pregnancy. Nothing worked and Elewechi was born, despite everything. The story shocked Elewechi’s own daughter so much that she did her law dissertation on the morality of abortion, discovering that hundreds of thousands of pregnancies are terminated every day. Elewechi believes that every child has a right to live, and that the law should not make it easy to terminate a pregnancy unless the mother’s life is at risk. Every day Elewechi wakes up and ensures that she is contributing to making the world a better place, and takes every opportunity to speak out against abortion. She does not blame her parents for what they tried to do, and is grateful that the will of God was stronger than her parents will – it is great to be alive! last updated: 23/11/07 SEE ALSOYou are in: Tyne > Video Nation > Great To Be Alive |
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