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Malawi Parliament Rejects Debate On Liberalizing Abortion Law

Lameck Masina

   BLANTYRE, MALAWI - Malawi'sNationalAssembly hasrejected a motion to
   debate liberalizing the country's strict law against abortion, which is
   only allowed if the mother's life is at risk.'¯ Despite thousands of
   Malawian women dying each year from unsafe abortions, lawmakerson
   Thursday unanimously rejectedamotion todebatethelong-delayedTermination
   of Pregnancy Bill. '¯

   The bill,pushed by activists since 2015,aimedto expandlegal
   abortionfrom cases where the mother's life is at risktoincluderape,
   incest, fetal deformity, and threats to health.'¯

   The debate on Thursday, though,neverevenstarted.

   "What they have done is to deny even discussing it,"
   saidRichardChimwendoBanda, Minister of Homeland Security and a member
   of prliament. "Which means you can't force the members.They don't want
   it.Actually, therewas no single 'yes.'Out of all members in
   parliament,all of them refused."

   Agroup ofabout 50 female activistsdemonstrated
   outsideMalawi'sparliamentThursdayin support of the billbefore the
   debate was rejected.

   Gender activistTitaniMagalasiwas among them. Shesays they're not giving
   up.

   "Just because it was not tabled this week, it
   doesn'tmeanactually,itdoesn't mean that it has been defeated," Magalasi
   said. "Because it never actually came onto the table meaning that we
   still we can even push for next week as private members'bills are
   always tabled on Thursdays. So next week Thursday, be assured to see us
   back there in our numbers fighting for the same bill to be tabled."

   However,Banda saidthat,judging from Thursday's reaction, he
   doubtslawmakers will debate the billduring the current sitting of
   parliament,which endsMarch 26.

   Thecurrent160-year-old law criminalizes abortion, unless the mother's
   life is in danger, with offenders facingup to14 years in jail.

   Critics say the law leads tomore than 140,000 backstreet abortions
   annuallythat cause12,000 deaths, according to a joint study
   byMalawi'sCollege of Medicine and the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute.

   Countless other Malawian women are left permanently scarred.

   JessieChing'omaisaboard member of the Gender Coordination
   Network,whichhas been pushing forchanging thelaw.

   "It's unfortunate that we are continuing delaying the process,"
   Ching'oma said. "If status quo continues,it means women and girls will
   continue having unsafe abortion[s],which is a violation of their
   rights."

   The bill was to be debated last year but was dropped because
   ofwidespread oppositionfrom conservative and religiousgroups,who
   consider all abortions to be murder.

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