Economic crisis halts abortion law review

Lack of financial resources is affecting the Malawi law commission’s (MLC) work in reviewing abortion laws in the country, officials have said.

The commission is to review the abortion laws, which are in the penal code in sections 149, 150, 151 and 243.

For instance, section 149 criminalizes the act of carrying out an abortion attracting a 14 year jail sentence for any woman found to have carried out an unsafe abortion.

However organizations fighting for women’s health rights say the section bars women from accessing reproductive health leading to scores of women and girls carrying out unsafe abortions behind closed doors.

Speaking during his presentation during a capacity building workshop on safe abortion for journalists in Lilongwe, assistant chief law reform officer for the commission Chiza Nyirongo said the review process started in 2004.

“The process has been stalling due to poor funding but there is a need for the authorities to consider funding the review in order to save lives the tare being lost in cases of unsafe abortion,” said Nyirongo.

However, National coordinator of the coalition for the prevention of unsafe abortion Chrispin Sibande said health authorities should push for availability of resources to have the new laws.

“There is a green light that the process seems to be there but the problem is that of the resources. So it is important that resources should be committed and that very soon we should have a better law, so that no single woman should die because of unsafe abortion,” said Sibande.
Statistics show that over 1, 400 women die every year while trying to abort using unsafe means, while 70,000 expectant women undergo abortions in Malawi.