A report conducted by 27 non-governmental organisations noted that nearly 20 000 Zimbabwean women die annually from either illegally induced abortions or child birth.
TAFADZWA MURANGANWA,OWN CORRESPONDENT
Draped in a prison garb, Chipo looks down as she narrates how she found herself behind prison bars.
She had high hopes of a better life after she had been raised by her grandparents following the death of her parents when she was still very young.
Chipo terminated her six-month-old pregnancy after her boyfriend, who was 17-years-old then, denied responsibility.
“We were both 17 when I fell pregnant and to my shock, Tawanda turned against me.
“I was to learn later that he had vacated his lodgings to join his brother in South Africa and he has since never communicated with me,” Chipo said as tear drops trickled down her cheeks.
This incident is just one of many thousand cases that are being recorded every year in Zimbabwe.
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A report conducted by 27 non-governmental organisations noted that nearly 20 000 Zimbabwean women die annually from either illegally induced abortions or during childbirth.
Abortion in Zimbabwe is only legal under Section 4 of the Termination of Pregnancy Act which states that abortion is legal only when the life of the mother and her physical health is endangered or where there is a serious risk that the child to be born will suffer from physical or mental defects of such a nature that it will be permanently or seriously handicapped.
Another reason stated for legal abortion is when there is reasonable possibility that the foetus conceived is as a result of unlawful sexual contact like incest or rape.
Illegal abortions are tried under the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act and states that: “Any person who intentionally terminates a pregnancy or terminates a pregnancy by conduct which he or she realises involves a real risk or possibility of terminating the pregnancy shall be guilty of unlawful termination of pregnancy and liable to a fine not exceeding level ten or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both.”
Chipo’s story is sad in the sense that she was driven to pregnancy termination by her grandmother.
She recalls how her grandmother repeatedly told her that she would not look after a baby that does not have a father.
Her late grandmother hatched a plan to visit a traditional dealer who gave her some concoction.
She, however, developed serious complications three days later leading her to seek medical attention, a matter that eventually exposed what her grandmother had done.
She spent two months in hospital as more trouble awaited her to attend court hearings where a magistrate sentenced her for this criminal act.
Recently, the government passed a policy to assist women to access post-abortion care in an effort to reduce Zimbabwe’s maternal mortality rate.
According to Tariro Tembo, an undergraduate psychology student at the University of Zimbabwe, there were many reasons why women decide to terminate pregnancies.
“There are many reasons why women abort and these are fear of societal disapproval in the event that the man responsible refuses; genetic factors; age, where young women are likely to abort than their older counterparts and sometimes are forced to do so by their partners,” Tembo said.
She argued that as long as society still stigmatises single-parenthood among women this problem would escalate.
“There are very few families that welcome mvana (single mothers). Many still look at them as having messed up their own lives and yet a single father does not share the same predicament. “So, if a girl falls pregnant and person responsible dithers, the woman has very little option other than to terminate the pregnancy,” she said.
A Harare gynecologist who requested anonymity argued that there is need to move towards legalising safe abortion so that maternal mortality rate, which is worsened by unsafe abortions.
“Maternal mortality rate will sky rocket if such methods like early termination of pregnancies are not performed.
“Although the policy allows access to post-abortion care, many women will continue to die because of late termination of pregnancies,” the gynecologist said. Abortion is the termination of pregnancy before birth that results in the death of the foetus.
Some abortions take place naturally because a foetus does not develop normally or because the mother has an injury or disorder that prevents her from carrying the pregnancy, a term referred to as miscarriage.
Various non-governmental organisations are pushing for safe abortions in Zimbabwe arguing that it is the biggest problem that is contributing to high maternity mortality.
Others have cited that maternal health facilities be accessed freely so that young women do not resort to back street abortions.
But men of cloth argue that the answer lies in preaching good moral behaviour to stop these vices.
“What people should know is that there should not try to make a sin acceptable as this is gross disobedience to the word of God,” Godknows Mawadza, a pastor with God’s Disciples Ministries in Harare, argues.
The young pastor said people should respect the sacredness of life and added that there is no substitute for that.
“Sanctity of life has no two ways about it. It should be preserved,” he added.
But while the debate rages on as to whether women should go for legal abortions, many women continue to die worldwide due to backstreet abortions.
Uganda’s health workers recently called for amendments to the laws on abortion, to save some 1 500 would-be mothers annually.
The call came recently, as health workers and legal experts met in Kampala, to discuss the law on abortion.
“Out of every 100 pregnant women, 20 will get abortions and eight of these will need emergency post-abortion care, but might not access it because of the stigma society and health workers attach to abortion,” president of the Association of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Uganda, Charles Kiggundu said.
In yet another development, African nations also rejected the United Nations (UN) promotion of abortion on the last day of the final meeting in a series of UN conferences.
The UN conference to draft a development agenda for Africa concluded in a fierce clash between regional values and the “progressive” norms pushed by UN agencies on controversial issues such as abortion and sexual orientation.
The African leaders appeared prepared for the meeting in Ethiopia to spurn vague phrases lobbied for by sexual rights activists.
The controversy centred on the call for human rights for all “without distinction of any kind,” a phrasing that United Nations Economic Commission for Africa admitted was open to an “elastic interpretation to meanings that might be unacceptable in Africa for various reasons.”
There are very few families that welcome mvana (single mothers). Many still look at them as having messed up their own lives and yet a single father does not share the same predicament
