The proposals will also allow children to procure an abortion without parental consent and could result in doctors who don’t want to be involved in abortion procedure, or provide a referral, receiving five-year prison sentences. However, unlike the UK’s 24-week limit, Malawi’s Termination of Pregnancy Bill has no time limit attached to the clause allowing abortion on mental health grounds and would effectively allow de facto abortion on-demand, up-to-birth. The group noted that 98% of the UK’s abortions take place under equally permissive language. Malawi’s Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship expressed ‘grave concern’ after a similarly worded bill was introduced in 2016, stating it “has led other countries to effectively practice abortion on demand”. While this language appears to provide abortion on only narrow grounds, in practice it will likely allow for de facto abortion on demand to be allowed in Malawi through a broad interpretation of the term “health”. The Termination of Pregnancy Bill outlines that abortion would be available without a time limit on grounds that “the termination of pregnancy is necessary to prevent injury to the physical or mental health of a pregnant woman”. Vote for Both Lives – General Election 2019.Stop an extreme abortion law being introduced to England and Wales.Find out if your MP voted to impose abortion on NI.Stop the ‘DIY’ abortion services which are endangering women’s lives.Ask your MP to support the disability, sex-selective and time-limit abortion amendments.Ask your MP to oppose an extreme abortion law change.Ask your MP to attend a parliamentary meeting on crisis pregnancy support.
Ask your MP to oppose Rupa Huq’s abortion clinic buffer zone amendment.Find out if your MP voted for buffer zones and give them feedback.Malawi’s lawmakers are expected to finally debate the bill before the current parliamentary session ends on March 26. If somebody dies before they are born it’s like the womb was their grave.” And the Bible also tells us in Jeremiah chapter 20 that thanks to God the womb of my mother was not my grave. “God knows you while you are in your mother’s womb. “God considers life from conception, said Pastor Zacc Kawalala, a church leader in Blantyre. Pastor Zacc Kawalala, a church leader in Blantyre, strongly preaches against abortion, describing it as murder. When enacted, the new law will allow women who face physical and mental dangers to their lives to access abortion,” said Brian Ligomeka who is with the Safe Abortion Campaign groupīut protests in 2016 from conservative and religious groups, who call any abortion murder, delayed debate on the bill. “There are three additional grounds that are there. The dangerous procedures leave about 12,000 of them dead and countless survivors, like Melita, permanently scarred.Ĭampaigners have since 2015 been pushing a bill on expanding legal abortions to cases of rape, incest, fetal deformity, and threats to health. Safe abortion advocate Brian Ligomeka says expanding abortion law would save the lives of many mothers and alleviate maternal complications. Research by the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute and the Malawi College of Medicine shows 140,000 Malawian women have unsafe abortions each year. So, after experiencing persistent abdominal pain and bleeding, says Malita, I was very scared that I would also die. I have heard stories of women dying from back street abortions, she says. Though she can no longer have children, Melita knows she was lucky. Melita’s uterus had ruptured and had to be removed. The pain felt around my cervix was unbearable, says Metlia, and I started crying while rolling on the floor. She says a few hours after taking a concoction of herbs, she started bleeding heavily.
Despite these numbers, efforts to liberalize current abortion laws are facing resistance from conservative groups.Īfter getting pregnant at age 17, “Melita” – not her real name – saw abortion as her only option to stay in school.īut Malawi’s 160-year-old abortion law only allows termination to save the life of a mother. Abortion is illegal in Malawi, unless the mother’s life is at risk, but that doesn’t stop an estimated 140,000 women per year having unsafe terminations that leave 12,000 women dead and countless others permanently scarred.
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