Centre for Solutions Journalism (CSJ), a human rights media organization, says unsafe abortion puts the lives of girls and women in danger especially those in remote areas due to ignorance and lack of information on Sexual and Reproductive Health related issues.
Executive Director, Brian Ligomeka, made the statement on Friday during a media training that the organization conducted on reporting sexual and reproductive health issues in Lilongwe.
Ligomeka said lack of information on family planning services had been a challenge for a long time such that women and girls intend to go for unsafe abortions which results in untimely deaths as such it is important that government should make sure that they provide free and affordable services to reach all individuals and lower the incidence of unintended pregnancies considering that those who usually undergo for unsafe abortion get unwanted pregnant because they lack knowledge on abortion.
He added that family planning methods can enable women and couples to choose the best methods for them to use effectively and switch methods when desired.
“These family planning services should make a special effort to reach rural and poor Malawian women, who experience higher levels of unmet need for family planning than their urban and non-poor counterparts” ” he explained
He worried that it is a pity that survivors of sexual offenses and minors are forced to either graves or mandatory motherhood because of archaic laws on abortion.
Ligomeka said that the government should realize that women’s lives matter too because a country cannot continue to turn a blind eye when women and girls are dying due to unsafe abortion.
According to sections 149 to 151, and section 243 of the Malawi Penal Code, the current position of the law is that induced abortion is illegal in Malawi, except where it is performed to save the life of the pregnant woman through a surgical operation. This law was introduced by the British in the 1930s and adopted by Malawi upon gaining independence in 1964.
Data from Polis on the incidence of induced abortion in Malawi indicates that most abortions are the result of unintended pregnancy. In Malawi, 53 percent of pregnancies in 2015 were unintended, and close to one-third (30 %) of these unintended pregnancies ended in abortion.
Out of the estimated 141,000 abortions performed in Malawi in 2015, approximately 60% resulted in complications that required medical treatment in a health facility.
