NIGERIAN couples challenged by infertility have been admonished to consult qualified medical experts for solutions rather than resorting to the criminal practice of buying babies.
Making the call in Lagos, the Fertility Awareness Advocacy Initiative, FAAI, a support group working to improve the lives of women and men experiencing fertility challenges through support, information, and education, frowned on the practice of buying babies and the setting up of illegal baby factories that are commonplace nationwide.
In hindsight, Nigeria has a long history of “baby factories,” where women are abducted for impregnating and selling newborns. Earlier in 2023, the Nigerian Army rescued a number of pregnant teenagers from a clandestine baby factory in Abia State, exposing the illegal baby trade. The factory was traced back to a registered charity home.
Speaking at the 10th anniversary picnic of the support group, the erstwhile President of FAAI, Mr. Omos Evborokhai, described the act of buying babies as criminal, even as he urged persons in search of the fruit of the womb to always seek help through the medical route.
Evborokhai, who is the founding president of the body, noted that FAAI had been speaking out about fertility issues and treatment over the past 10 years in a bid to help demystify infertility treatment and the associated stigma.
“The law frowns at baby factories, and so does the support group; even culturally, baby buying is taboo. It is okay to adopt; that is legal, but if you want to go all out, then seek medical attention instead of going through the back door to buy babies, thereby deceiving yourself and the public that you have given birth, whereas the baby is not yours.
“Everybody should go through the medical route. Go to the medical experts rather than holding innocent girls hostage until they conceive and give birth, which itself is a criminal act.”
On perceptions about whether children born through IVF were normal, Evborokhai described it as an individual thing.
“People have individual rights to their opinion, but the fact remains that whether the baby is conceived through IVF, IUI, or surrogacy, it is still a baby. It is God who makes it possible because not everybody who goes through the process succeeds at the end of the day, so we cannot rule out that God factor.
“But when you now succeed through it, give credit to the efforts of the medical practitioners so that people get to know that there is a higher possibility and probability of success going through it than going through the back door.”
He explained that, as a support group, FAAI is a platform for women and men experiencing infertility to connect, discuss, and receive support from one another with similar experiences or struggling with the same issues.
“That FAAI is 10 today means we have known for 10 years, and I am glad that what we looked at 10 years ago and didn’t even know we would get this far has actually materialised.
“What it means is that we put in more effort to achieve our aims and objectives in setting up FAAI.
“We have been able to educate the public. I am sure many more people are aware of IVF treatment and other options. The awareness is there now that it is not witchcraft that is responsible for delays or couples not being able to conceive.
“All that it takes is a little bit of assistance, and you achieve your aim. So it is not like in the past, when couples accused mothers-in-law or looked in the direction of the woman and accused her of being responsible.
“People are getting aware now that both couples could be responsible for the delay and not just one person, and that there is a situation where the woman is always stigmatized and made a subject of attack at every family gathering.
“So rather than concentrating her efforts in that area, she then seeks a solution, and that is what we are getting through IVF treatment.”
