Authorities emphasize that legalising safe abortion can significantly reduce maternal mortality rates. Every year, countless women lose their lives to unsafe abortion procedures.
This comes as the world commemorated the International Safe Abortion Day on 28 September 2024.
Speaking during the commemorations of the day in Kasungu district, Matthews Ngwale MP, who is also the chair of the Parliamentary Health Committee, emphasized the need for safe and legal abortion in the country saying many lives would be saved if abortion is legalized.
Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre (MHRRC), in partnership with SRHR Alliance, FPAM, COPUA, MenEngage Alliance Malawi, and government stakeholders organized the event.
Statistics from the Blantyre District Health Office (DHO) indicate that the majority of those seeking post-abortion care in the district are young girls and of the 2,003 reported cases treated with post-abortion care for unsafe abortions in the last quarter of 2023, as many as 1,003 were under the age of 20, while the rest were only slightly over 20 years of age.
Meanwhile, This year’s International Safe Abortion Day was commemorated under the theme “Access to Safe and Legal Abortion Now.”
