Safe abortion is key in reducing high maternal mortality in Zimbabwe

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 Today is #InternationalSafeAbortionDay. It is worth knowing that Zimbabwe's policy on abortion is mainly covered in the Termination of Pregnancy Act. This act was passed in conservative conial times. We're in 2023 and a lot has changed. It is time for this Act to be reviewed.

Maternal mortality rate in Zimbabwe is at an unprecedented point. Each year many women lose their lives in the process of aborting a pregnancy through unsafe means. Female teenagers in Zimbabwe are increasingly getting unwanted pregnancies because of issues to do with lack of comprehensive sexuality education and timely medical services and products such as condoms and contraceptives. In the Medical Services Ammendment Bill a young person 16 and under can only access sexual health services in the company of an adult. This policy is restrictive and not youth friendly and has is one of the triggers of high fertility rates amongst the 14 - 19 young women age groups (to read in-depth about this, check out UNFPA Zimbabwe  National adolescent fertility study). As unwanted pregnancies in Zimbabwe attract a lot of shame to the girl and family of the girl, a lot of these pregnant teenager resort to unsafe termination of their pregnancies. In Zimbabwe they are a lot of frauds who purpote to be medical experts and unfortunate girls are lured by their abortion medication and sometimes dangerous operations and use of herbs and other substances that supposedly terminates a pregnancy. A lot of young women have lost their lives because of these practices. 

The termination of pregnancy act only allows a termination of pregnancy under the conditions that the pregnancy was acquired through rape or incest or if the pregnancy compromises the health of the mother. Approval is allowed through a court order. This process takes longer and when one gets approval the pregnancy will be at a stage when it will be risky to terminate or the doctor who is supposed to do the procedure may be unavailable. Now, why is our Zimbabwean government is failing to initiate neccesary ammendments? I think its because we're a country largely influenced by culture and religious practices which shame abortion and policymakers have feared doing the right thing for fear of backlash from the public. I sincerely believe civil society organizations have done a lot of work and the ball is now in the policymakers' court, and I believe its time they do the right thing. 

Facts are stubborn. The reason martenal mortality is high is because many are terminating pregnancies in unsafe situations resulting in loss of life. All this in result had negative impacts on overall health expectations found in the Universal Health Coverage and GOAL 3 of the #GlobalGoals. Policymakers should not be selfish, there is the greater good to think about - a future in which no woman should ever die because they have been denied access to safe abortion. 

To read more about the UNFPA National Adolescents Fertility Study visit the link below and download the file.

National Adolescent Fertility Study 2016 - UNFPA Zimbabwe https://zimbabwe.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/UNFPA%20NAFS%20Main%20Report%20%202016%20For%20Web.pdf



Image credit: Amnestry International. 


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