Brian Ligomeka, CSJ Head
Surveys done each year in Malawi show that over 141,000 women and girls have abortions, almost all clandestine, and not every abortion is recorded or counted. These data come mainly from government health facilities, and do not include private health facilities where women pay for abortions, clandestinely. The Center for Solutions Journalism reported this at a recent meeting with media managers, aiming to encourage them to publish more about the reality of abortion in Malawi. But the fact is that a bill was gazetted to amend the law in 2016 and has been gathering dust since it went to the Ministry of Health in 2017.
Centre for Solutions Journalism (CSJ) head Brian Ligomeka has called for the bill to be enacted into law through meaningful dialogue of Members of Parliament with their constituents, as proposed by the Law Commission. He points out that the government has responded positively to the problem – by setting up post-abortion care units and creating positions for safe motherhood coordinators in all hospitals. They have also effected a new marriage age, banned traditional birth attendants, and upscaled family planning – as well as drafting a Termination of Pregnancy Bill.
Ipas Malawi compiled data showing that in 2022, 3,395 women and girls had unsafe abortions in Blantyre and sought treatment in district clinics, rising from 665 women in 2020, to 1,144 women in 2021, and then 3,395 women in 2022. The numbers in Lilongwe were even higher – 4,711 in 2021 and 7,51 in 2022. Nationally, data from 2015 compiled by the Centre for Reproductive Health of the College of Medicine and the Guttmacher Institute found that in 2015, over 141,000 women and girls induced abortions that year. The majority took place in clandestine and unsafe conditions and often resulted in complications. Yet the law still allows abortion only to save the life of the woman/girl. ANd the cost of treatment for complications is higher than an MVA and much higher where the complications are severe.
Ligomeka said: “The enactment and setting up of policies under the Gender Equality Act, Marriage and Divorce legislation, Marriage Age and even the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act faced serious challenges when they were tabled, from what he called the ‘gurus of patriarchy’.”
He called for the enactment of the Termination of Pregnancy law, “which the government formulated to bring huge relief to victims of sexual assault and help in reducing maternal deaths while improving safe motherhood”.
SOURCE: Nyasa Times, by Duncan Mlanjira + photo of Brian Ligomeka, 7 August 2024.