MALAWI TO LEGALIZE ABORTION

A new bill is in the offing that is set to make abortion in Malawi as liberal as possible and has been hailed by international media as a model for other African countries.
Currently there are reports that there is a bill on the tables which is called the Termination of Pregnancy and

will see Malawi scrapping off the 14 years punishment that it ties to abortion ‘crimes’.
“The bill seeks to allow women abort pregnancies which result from rape or incest, endanger their lives, maycause mental or physical health complications, or where the foetus is severely malformed,” reports theThomson Reuters Foundation of the bill that is set to send feathers ruffling among conservative Malawians who are currently grappling with the issue of gay rights that has entered the public debate.

It has been reported that the bill was put together after it was established that of all deaths in Malawi, 17% are a result of abortion and that government spends $1 million (about K450 million) in a year to treat abortion related complications.

According to one activist championing the bill Chrispin Sibande, the bill will be passed once it is tabled in Parliament and Malawi will eventually be a role model in Africa as a country where abortion has been made liberal.