Call for legalization of abortion

A legislator has called for the repealing of the 1977 Termination of Pregnancy Act as it was one of the old patriarchal laws that hindered the emancipation of women in the country and the promotion of gender equality.

Speaking during a debate in Parliament on Tuesday, Hwange Central national assembly representative Mr Daniel Molokele said the Act remained a huge hindrance in the promotion of gender equality in this country and promoting the rights of women.

“In this country, we have a law called the Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1977. It is one of the oldest laws in this country that is long overdue. It does not need to be amended, it needs to be repealed. It is possibly violating the Constitution of this country in terms of the clauses that speak to the promotion of gender equality,” said Mr Molokele.

He said a number of women risked death or were dying while trying to terminate pregnancy in unconducive and illegal circumstances.

The legislator said the country has enough empirical evidence that there is a lot of termination of pregnancies, especially at high schools and universities.

“At a community level, women are not being given a choice, once you fall pregnant, you have to bear the consequences and this excludes a lot of women from having second chances in life. It is time to repeal the Termination of Pregnancy Act and replace it with a brand new Act that recognises the rights of women in this country and negates the patriarchal interest that the old Act has,” said Mr Molokele.

Responding to the contribution by Mr Molokele, leader of the House Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is also the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs said there was no need to repeal the Act in its entirety but instead conversation was needed to broaden circumstances when termination of pregnancy may be allowed adding that there are instances when it becomes dangerous even to the mother to terminate the pregnancy.

“So you need to have a look at it and say, let us have situations where you say when the pregnancy is at this particular trimester – those in the medical field indicate that it is not safe even for the mother to terminate that particular pregnancy, but I think we need conversations to update our laws and ensure that they speak to who we are and what is obtaining on the ground, but not necessarily to remove it outrightly,” said Minister Ziyambi.