Joyce Namugambe
The Women’s Probono Initiative has challenged universities and policy makers to reject the implementation of the mandatory pregnancy testing for female students as a way of respecting their right to privacy and dignity.
This comes at a time when WPI through social media posts noticed that Islamic University of Uganda issued an internal memo on mandatory pregnancy testing of female resident students as a condition.
The Programs manager for Women’s Probono Initiative Maria Bukirwa stressed that they advocate for a culture that respects personal rights, promotes inclusivity and priotise the overall wellbeing of every student, so that they create an environment that upholds dignity, autonomy and the principals of individual freedom.
Maria noted that at WPI, every individual including female students should have a right over privacy and bodily autonomy, yet the introduction of mandatory pregnancy testing would be unnecessary infringement upon this fundamental rights, pressing undue burden to female students compromising their personal dignity.
She expressed concern that this violates the principal of informed consent since the decision to undergo a pregnancy test should be done on an individual basis. She added that forcing students to undergo a pregnancy test without their consent undermines their agency and disregards their rights to make personal choices regarding their own bodies. And perpetuates harmful stereotypes and assumptions.
The Women’s probono initiative legal officer Lonah Nagawa emphasized that girls who make 18 years are sexually active and can make their own decisions of whether they should conceive or not.
Therefore forcing them to do pregnancy tests will automatically lead to their discrimination in the societies they live in as it is a way of showing them that getting pregnancy is a curse.
She added that a student who gets pregnant has equal rights to have education just as the student who is not pregnant, therefore stigmatizing them will affect their performance in education thereby affecting their grades as a result of psychological torture.
