Hwange Central legislator, Daniel Molokele (CCC), has called for the repealing of the country’s Termination of Pregnancy Act, saying the law violates the Constitution’s promotion of gender equality and places women in dangerous situations.
Speaking in the National Assembly last week, cited empirical evidence demonstrating a high prevalence of abortions, particularly among high school and university students. Molokele said (via Chronicle):
We have a law called the Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1977. It is one of the oldest laws in this country that is long overdue. It does not need to be amended, it needs to be repealed. It is possibly violating the Constitution of this country in terms of the clauses that speak to the promotion of gender equality…
At a community level, women are not being given a choice. Once you fall pregnant, you have to bear the consequences and this excludes a lot of women from having a second chance in life.
It is time to repeal the Termination of Pregnancy Act and replace it with a brand new Act that recognises the rights of women in this country and negates the patriarchal interest that the old Act has.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, acknowledged the need for reforming the Termination of Pregnancy Act but instead proposed broadening the circumstances to allow for legal termination. He said:
So you need to have a look at it and say, let us have situations where you say when the pregnancy is at this particular trimester, those in the medical field indicate that it is not safe even for the mother to terminate that particular pregnancy.
But I think we need conversations to update our laws and ensure that they speak to who we are and what is obtaining on the ground, not necessarily to remove it outright.
The Termination of Pregnancy Act only permits abortion in three specific scenarios:
- The continuation of the pregnancy endangers the woman’s life or poses a serious threat of permanent impairment to her physical health.
- The child may be born with serious physical or mental defects.
- The fetus was conceived as a result of rape or incest.
The law also prohibits unauthorised assistance with pregnancy termination and charges must be the standard fees charged by the institution.
However, reports suggest that abortion numbers have increased, with women turning to unsafe alternatives, such as illegal abortion pills and herbs.
In 2021, Dr Ruth Labode, the then-chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care, reported a rise in illegal abortions, with numbers jumping from 60,000 to 80,000 annually.
Those who are against abortion argue that life begins at conception, making abortion similar to murder.
