Members of Parliament have called for the amendment of the Termination of Pregnancy Act, which was enacted in 1977. The legislators argued that the law has become outdated and is failing to deal with the surge in cases of abortions.
Reports indicate that at least 60 000 abortions are carried out annually. While speaking at a recent Women’s Action Group (WAG) meeting on dissemination of abortion knowledge and attitudes towards research findings, MDC Alliance Proportional Representation MP Ruth Labode said:
We need a symposium where this issue can once and for all be clarified and a position reached. There are other considerations that we need to factor into the existing law to accommodate other situations.
The Termination of Pregnancy Act limits the circumstances under which it is legally possible to terminate a pregnancy. The Act stipulates that termination of a foetus is legal only when the life of the mother and her physical health is threatened or where there is a risk that the child to be born will suffer from physical or mental defects of such a nature that it will be permanently or seriously handicapped.
Abigail Matsvai from the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) said that abortion services should be more accessible:
There are a lot of gaps within the Act and this has made it difficult even for those that qualify to access services.
Accessibility can be cumbersome and ambiguous. Also, issues like marital rape are not included in the Act and yet they exist.
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