Abortion bill Faces first test

 Parliamentary Committee on Health chairperson Matthews Ngwale is today set to table a motion to facilitate the tabling of the Termination of Pregnancy (Private Members’) Bill which has divided opinion in our conservative society.

Despite opposition from some legislators and faith groups, the Chiradzulu West legislator is determined to table the motion which will lay the foundation for change of laws restricting abortion.

The present law only allows abortion where it is performed to save the life of the pregnant woman through a surgical operation.

But the Bill that Ngwale is championing seeks to expand grounds for safe abortion as it seeks to liberalise abortion laws to allow for safe abortions in cases of danger to a mother’s health, rape, incest and foetal abnormalities.

The proposed law provides that in the case of rape, incest or defilement, the woman would first have to report the matter to police to be eligible for termination of the pregnancy.

However, the Bill provides that socio-economic circumstances would not be taken into account. For instance, no woman would be allowed to terminate a pregnancy on the basis that she wants to continue with her education, according to the Bill.

Ngwale said he wants to table the Bill after noting that the Penal Code only allows for the termination of a pregnancy if the life of a mother is at risk. He said there are more justifiable situations necessitating the termination of unwanted pregnancies, but not covered by the current laws.

In an interview yesterday, the lawmaker said he was determined to move the motion to table the Bill in Parliament despite stiff opposition from numerous interest groups in society and some of his fellow members of Parliament (MPs).

He said his motivation is drawn from the need to save lives of mothers and girls who die or suffer from complications from unsafe abortion.

Said Ngwale: “Statistics of women who die from unsafe abortion are alarming. My duty as a member of Parliament is to move the motion. I don’t care what the outcome will be. It’s up to the House to decide.

“I will be proud that as a member of Parliament, I will have done something to seek or provide solutions for national cause in terms of maternal health.”

The MP’s move to table the Bill received a boost from youths who are pressing Parliament to pass it. The youth said yesterday they will hold demonstrations at Parliament Building if the Bill is rejected.

Briefing journalists in Lilongwe yesterday, youth activist Lusungu Black, who was flanked by fellow youths drawn from different parts of the country, said he is hopeful that Parliament will do the needful.

“If it does not pass, we will protest by closing Parliament. We realise that members of Parliament represent people and we as people are telling them to pass the Bill,” he said.

Another youth activist Prisca Kumsida said having the Bill in Parliament is in itself progress, but it will be unfortunate if it does not pass.

“MPs should know that by not voting for it, they are risking more lives of women and girls as it means more victims of unsafe abortion,” she said.

Malawi spends between K300 million and K500 million annually treating patients with post-abortion complications arising from unsafe abortion.

Since the Bill started appearing on the Order Paper, an outline of business to be tackled in Parliament, it has faced opposition from faith and cultural groups as well as political parties.

Society of Medical Doctors president Victor Mithi said yesterday that their previous stand which supports the tabling and passing of the Bill in Parliament still stands.

He said people should understand that the Bill does not legalise abortion for everyone who so wishes to acquire it, but only offers a lifeline to those with peculiar conditions.

Mithi said: “If people were pushing for abortion legalisation, then we couldn’t be talking about justifiable situations for a person to acquire the service, it could have been free for all.”

In a separate interview, Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda yesterday said government has nothing to do with the Bill; hence, there is no support for it.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party chief whip Symon Vuwa Kaunda referred the matter to Leader

 of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa. However, Nankhumwa pushed the issue back to Kaunda who later did not answer his phone.

Several faith groups have recently spoken against the Bill. They include the General Synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), Evangelical Association of Malawi, Public Affairs Committee and Muslim Association of Malawi.

In an earlier interview, ECM spokesperson Father Henry Saindi said: “I know they are trying to coin some phrases such as safe abortion, but what we are saying is that abortion is abortion.”

But Coalition for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortion board chairperson Emma Kaliya said growing dissent from religious groups who regard abortion as a sin was a result of failure by such institutions to go through the Bill and make reflections.

Writing in the Malawi Medical Journal, Fanuel Bickton and Thengo Kavinya note that the current abortion law was introduced by the British colonialists in the 1930s and adopted by Malawi at independence in 1964.

In 2009, a study by the Ministry of Health found that unsafe abortion accounts for 17 percent of maternal deaths in Malawi.

Studies by gynaecologists at the College of Medicine—a constituent college of the University of Malawi—and US-based Guttimacher Institute show that almost 141 000 pregnant Malawian women every year end up taking a clandestine abortion. The unsafe abortions are estimated to kill up to 18 in every 100, according to the Magnitude Study by the Ministry of Health