Cee Cee

Let us be completely honest about what "pregnancy in Nigeria is a death sentence" actually means in plain terms. No woman using this phrase wants to die, and no woman using it is praying for disaster. ​They are pointing out a terrifying reality. When you step into a Nigerian labor ward, your survival depends on whether the generator has fuel, whether there is blood in the bank, and whether your family has immediate cash for an emergency C-section. ​This is an indictment of a system that treats female life as disposable, not a curse. ​Accusing women of wishing death on themselves is a cheap way to avoid fixing hospitals. You cannot "God forbid" an empty blood bank into having blood.

The expression "pregnancy is a death sentence" has been used in maternal health advocacy and public discussion for years. It appeared in the promotional material for a maternal health documentary released in 2010, in a 2012 article published by The Independent, and in the title of a 2013 article by Harvard's Maternal Health Task Force. A peer-reviewed study published in 2015 also described pregnancy and childbirth as being equivalent to a death sentence for many women in Ghana. All these, asides other references I have made in some of my previous posts. This is a documented expression in discussions about maternal mortality and the failures that put women's lives at risk. It did not originate in this current debate, and its use is not automatically a declaration of a wish to die or an invitation to disaster. So why has an expression with this history become something for which women are being cursed, insulted and, in some cases, told to go and die? Why are people more concerned with treating the phrase as a curse than engaging with the maternal health realities it is being used to highlight? That is what I find particularly disturbing. Women and others should be able to speak about their experiences and the dangers they face without being subjected to abuse for the language they choose to use which they do not invent.

Hyperbole, metaphor, catachresis and other recognised figures of speech are part of everyday communication, not just literary writing. Describing pregnancy as a death sentence can be understood as catachresis (taking a term traditionally associated with judicial punishment and applying it to a biological process to convey the severity of the dangers women face. The deliberate departure from its literal meaning is central to its rhetorical force). Apparently, the distinction between literal and figurative language, the importance of context and the interpretation of figures of speech have all become rather difficult concepts to grasp. Perhaps we should consider what the expression communicates before reducing it to a literal prediction, prayer or curse.

True freedom of expression isn't just about having the right to speak but possessing the wisdom to know when not to. No one is trying to take away anyone's freedom, but there's a difference between having the right to say something and actually needing to say it. The problem is that pride and social media status won't let many people see this. When you have tasted the validation from engagement and retweets, it becomes impossible to recognize that some opinions belong in your drafts, some in private conversations, and some nowhere at all. This is just discernment. Social media has created an illusion that every thought deserves an audience, that staying silent means you don't care. But maturity understands that not every issue needs your take and that you are not always the right person to speak. There is a pride fueled by perceived relevance and the fear of becoming invisible that prevents people from admitting they should sit one out. Knowing when to keep your opinion to yourself, when to let a moment pass without inserting yourself is strength and it is the kind of wisdom that used to be essential to maturity. But many won't see this because their need to be seen has overridden the quiet voice that once told people when to speak and when to simply observe. - @Jomilojju