By Francis Tayanjah Phiri:
The arrest of a pastor at Kanengo in the outskirts of Lilongwe over allegations of sexually abusing, impregnating and forcing a 17-year-old girl to procure an abortion remains the talk of the area.
According to the police, the pastor faced charges of having sexual activity with a minor and forcing her to procure an abortion.
The scandal came to light when the pastor allegedly gave the child money for terminating the pregnancy, but the procedure went wrong, prompting the pastor to take the girl to the hospital without informing her parents.
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After two days of admission to the hospital as the girl was receiving post-abortion care, one church member alerted the parents, who immediately reported the matter to police.
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Without delay, the police arrested the pastor.
The incident is not an isolated one, as cases of sexual violence against children and even adults are on the increase.
“Most cases of defilement are perpetrated by male relations such as stepfathers, biological fathers, uncles and grandfathers. Some involve close people like neighbours and teachers,” national police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said.
He added that during the first half of 2023, the country recorded 10,585 cases of gender-based violence, of which 984 bordered on sexual violence.
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During the same period, 713 cases of defilement were reported to police.
While the courts jail rapists and defilers, the question of what intervention should women who become pregnant as a result of sexual violence be provided with remains a subject of debate.
The Special Law Commission on the Review of Abortion Law proposed that such women and girls should be allowed to access safe abortion services in health facilities should they desire to do so.
While some look at that as a valid ground for gaining access to safe abortion, others oppose such proposition, saying the woman should carry the pregnancy that emanates from rape or incest to term.
The upsurge in unsafe abortion cases resulting in severe complications is a catalyst for calls for the Termination of Pregnancy law enactment.
But lawyer Yankho Mwandidya, speaking during a media training in Blantyre recently, said there was a need to understand the proposed law, including the fact that even if the bill were enacted, access to safe abortion in Malawi would remain restricted.
“Even when the bill is enacted, abortion will not be performed on demand. It will only be provided to women who meet some criteria, including in cases of foetal malformation, rape, incest and defilement as it is necessary to do so to save the life of the pregnant woman,” Mwandidya says.
She emphasised that the Law Commission proposed that abortion remain illegal but expanded the exceptions under which it may be legally provided.
According to Mwandidya, the review improved the application of Section 243 of the Penal Code, which currently only provides one exception for women to access legal and safe abortion – that is, surgical operation performed in good faith to preserve life of the pregnant woman.
“The situation emanating from how the law is framed and applied presently is what forces women to seek unsafe methods of abortion, and this leads to high maternal mortality, coupled with a burden on the State for post-abortal care,” Mwandidya explained.
Coalition for Prevention of Unsafe Abortion General Secretary Francis Makiya says several national studies of the magnitude on unsafe abortion in Malawi reveal a grim picture of the problem.
Quoting a report on the Incidence of Unsafe Abortion in Malawi, Makiya said there were over 67,000 cases of unsafe abortion in Malawi in 2009. Another nationwide research by the College of Medicine and Guttmacher Institute showed that over 141,000 unsafe abortions occurred in Malawi in 2015.
According to Makiya, one of the key contributors of maternal deaths in Malawi is unsafe abortion. Malawi is one of the countries with highest maternal mortality rate as 439 women and girls per every 100,000 die due to pregnancy or child-birth related causes.
“For example, in the year 2015, Malawi registered over 141,000 induced abortion cases. True to that, 53 percent of the said pregnancies were unintended.
“It is also a fact that one out of every six pregnancies end in abortions while 60 percent of abortions resulted in complications that required treatment [according the 2015 records],” Makiya narrates.
Centre for Solutions Journalism Executive Director Brian Ligomeka hailed government for drafting the proposed bill to reduce cases of maternal deaths in Malawi.
“All over the world, law reform has proved to be an effective intervention for reducing and ending unsafe abortion. The government, through the Law Commission, needs to be commended for the decision to draft the Termination of Pregnancy Bill,” he said.
Ligomeka, however, bemoaned the slow progress in enacting the law.
“Our worry is that our members of Parliament dilly-dally when enacting women empowerment laws. We urgently need a law to save lives of women and girls who die from unsafe abortions,” he said.
He added that the high number of women and girls seeking post-abortion care in both public and private facilities demonstrated the magnitude of the problem and the need for law reform.
