I recently discovered that it is still difficult for people, even fellow women, to understand and accept that postpartum depression is real. I found myself having to explain mental health issues and how women who just gave birth are easily affected and how sometimes they do not even know. I wanted them to understand because I thought it was as easy as ABC, but i guess its not after all. In a country where people still think depression is just “attention seeking”, would you think we will ever understand something as big as abortion??
In Zimbabwe there’s an act of Parliament that states out the grounds in which pregnancy can be terminated. Termination of Pregnancy Act which was authorized in 1977 under the Rhodesian government later on retained but the Zimbabwean government after independence. This Act expresses that Termination of pregnancy in Zimbabwe is accessible under restricted conditions. There are three conditions in which a pregnancy can be terminated.
The conditions are as follows÷
(i) the law allows abortion if the pregnancy imperils the existence of the woman or shows signs of future harm to her health. For instance, say the fetus moves into the tubes and one of the tubes burst and the woman is at risk, in this situation it is permitted to save the woman and eliminate the unborn child, however under the condition that two registered medical practitioners should initially affirm that termination is important. Knowing the situation in Zimbabwe, this might take ages and the lady will still be in a state of pain.
(ii) the law allows abortion if the kid might brought into the world with physical or mental imperfections.
(iii) the law allows abortion if the child was convinced as a result of rape or incest.
In any case, there’s an issue with number (iii), it states that abortion is allowed if the child was convinced through rape, meaning it only applies to everyone else except married women. That is to say, if a lady in marriage is raped by her own significant other and it results in pregnancy that wasn’t planned for, and she feels she doesn’t want the child, she’s still not allowed to abort because the law doesn’t allow it.
Section 48 subsection 3 of the Zimbabwean Constitution expresses that, “An act of Parliament should protect the existence of unborn children, and that Act should give that act pregnancy maybe terminated as per the law”. In this way there are grounds where pregnancy can legitimately be terminated. The Termination of pregnancy act expresses that pregnancy must be terminated by two registered medical professionals who are not from the same medical institute and at an assigned medical institute. It additionally expresses that abortion must be carried out given that the individual who need to go through the procedure has a written consent from the police and certified by a magistrate. If only we could get rid of these ridiculous regulations. How many days will it take for one to get the certified consent letter? And until then one will still be pregnant right? Is that not an inconvenience on its own
Now it is urgent to take note that there are no extraordinary or explicit establishments that explicitly offer post abortion care in Zimbabwe. Abortion isn’t an urgent matter in Zimbabwe and so is PAC though women are dying everyday. Abortion isn’t dealt like some other medical issues coz it seems its not as important
Just like this act shows only disdain for the ladies in the country and leaves one pondering the mental soundness of our representatives in the Parliament. What you dont disagree with, you certainly agree with. Does this mean our female representatives are FOR anti abortion?
According to UNICEF 2005, genuinely, around 70000 illegal abortions happen in Zimbabwe every year. Though the public authority gauges in 2017, shows that in excess of 80000 illegal abortions happen each year coming to about 20000 martenal deaths of which 16% of these martenal deaths are young women. Most illegal abortions by adolescent mothers happen in rural areas, however unlawful abortion also happen in the city through registered medical professionals understand unlawful circumstances. More than 100 ladies each month look for post abortion care at local hospitals, which means around 3-4 ladies seek post abortion care day by day.
It is also crucial to note that its only in hospitals and not clinics that issues of abortions are only allowed to be dealt with. Women in the rural areas rarely have access to hospital facilities as clinics are the only medical facilities that they have close to them. In this situation would you think one would opt to travel from their ward to the nearest hospital or they will end up opting for unsafe abortion?
I keep saying this, the issue of abortion is being handled by the wrong people in this country. The issue of abortion should be left to the individuals concerned, which are women!!!!!
#LegalizeAbortion
#LetsStopMartenalDeaths
#WomensLivesMatter!!!!
Mixed Feelings❣ 