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Access to safe abortion: Asserting a woman's right to bodily integrity
Womens Action Group (WAG)
February 09, 2011

"The five women including the mother and her sister who burnt an infant with petrol in an attempt to conceal its birth, have escaped a jail term after they were ordered each to perform 105 hours of community service" Read part of an article that was published in The Herald of 11 January 2011. Further reading of the same article reveals that the girl (the mother of the infant) was due to further her education abroad thus the baby would jeopardize her studies. She thought ridding herself of the baby was the only option. Was that wrong? Culturally, morally?

The above story is a microcosm of the macrocosm. This story can be equated to that of abortion. Many women avoid the trauma and the consequences of infanticide by getting abortions in the early stages of their pregnancies. Looking at the story from a wider context, it shows that in as much as the country has restrictions on the circumstances under which abortion is permitted in the country, as long as the woman does not want to keep the pregnancy, she will abort. Some well to do women have always had the money and private doctors to consult, while poor women face the choice of carrying through the pregnancy to term or risking their lives with unsafe illegal abortions. I recall one meeting that Women's Action Group conducted on access to safe post abortion care services where one of the speakers at the meeting highlighted an important fact that really provoked me to think further. She stated that:

"there has always been an unspoken consensus and knowledge about the technology of abortion amongst women in many rural and urban areas. Young women in secondary and tertiary education are quite knowledgeable about the traditional and modern technologies and practitioners of abortion, even though it is illegal. In rural areas, many women know about the herbal and chemical possibilities for inducing abortions. Such remedies may be dangerous, toxic and life-threatening but many young women resort to them in desperation when their schooling is threatened or when lovers betray and/or abandon them when they fall pregnant."

This cannot be disputed. In Zimbabwe unsafe abortions are one of the major contributors to high maternal mortality as it constitutes up to 5% of maternal deaths (Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Survey 2007). This is evidence that unsafe abortions still continue to be practiced in Zimbabwe. In mitigation, the post abortion care programme introduced by government was meant to curb the number of deaths resulting from unsafe abortion by providing services to women who had abortions that were either spontaneous or induced. This concession on the part of policy however, was not followed up with awareness raising and as a result, only a few women are accessing this service.

Looking at the issue of abortion from a women's rights perspective, The sad thing about abortion is that it is the woman who is blamed, it is the woman who is sent to jail yet they say 'it takes two to tango'. If the man refuses responsibility and a woman chooses to terminate pregnancy, why is the blame of aborting left entirely on the woman. These are gender dynamics. More to that, the World Health Organisation's definition of health is that:

"it is a state of complete physical, mental and emotional well being of a human being, not merely absence of disease and infirmity"

This then means that if my mind is not settled and I am constantly worried about the pregnancy, and I know very well that I am not able to look after the baby, then I am not healthy.

In as much as the country has signed and ratified international and regional instruments on sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), there is need for domestication of these policies for them to be applicable to the Zimbabwean situation. It is ironic to note that the country is a signatory to such reputable instruments as the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the first major instrument that asserts the sexual and reproductive health rights of women yet it does not recognize abortion rights. Articles 12 and 16 oblige State parties to take all appropriate steps to eliminate all forms of discrimination of women including those forms that result from lack of reproductive health services and education.

Another reputable instrument, The International Conference on Population and Development programme of action, adopted in 1994 in Cairo states that reproductive rights:

. . . .rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health.

This then calls for coordinated multisectoral response to strengthening commitment to women's health; to deal with the health impact of unsafe abortion as a major public health concern and to reduce the recourse to abortion through expanded and improved family planning services; women who have unwanted pregnancies should have ready access to reliable information and compassionate counseling- this avoids the risk of women having complications or even dying of abortion related complications. The fact that Zimbabwe is a party to CEDAW and was represented at the Cairo Conference in theory points to the fact that Zimbabwe is cognizant of actions that it should undertake to promote access to safe abortion.

However, in as much as we advocate for access to safe post abortion care services, let us not get carried away to the extent of reversing the gains that the country has made in the fight against HIV. It is a known fact that most pregnancies result from unprotected sexual intercourse and to the youths, we need to send a strong message of abstinence, if abstinence is not possible, then the condom becomes a necessity.

To close this, in as much as we demand our rights, let us demand them responsibly. We must realise that the burden is upon us to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread of HIV through engaging in safe sex. While abortion should become accessible in safe centres, it must be a last resort and not replace ordinary contraceptives as a means of family planning.

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