Malawi: Illegal Abortions Kills Dozens of Girls

By Staff Writer

Unsafe abortions are claiming dozens of girls’ lives in Malawi, with blame mainly pinned on many staunchly Christian parents for not informing and educating their children about birth control and unwanted pregnancies abound, prompting calls for liberalization of abortion. 

Thousands of women are treated for abortion-related complications every year in the southern African country, where the procedure is illegal except when the pregnancy threatens a mother’s life.

There is a debate raging in Malawian parliament with legislators fighting to loosening the country's strict abortion law as backstreet abortions kill dozens of women annually.

Head of a parliamentary health commission and co-author of a study on abortion in Malawi, Juliana Lunguzi says it is one of the leading causes of maternity-related deaths and injuries in the country.

According to the World Health Organization, Malawi had a maternal mortality rate of 510 deaths per 100 000 births in 2013. Lunguzi said about 17% of maternity-related deaths are due to unsafe abortions.

"At health facility level, there is evidence that backstreet abortions are numerous," she said. "And these unsafe abortions come to hospitals when the cases have already become complicated."

A study carried out in 2011 by Lunguzi and other researchers shows 70 194 abortions and most of them illegal were performed in 2009.

About 19 500 women were treated in health facilities for abortion-related complications that same year and it is estimated that the number has increased slightly since then.

Gynecologists Grace Chiudzu, who campaigns for a more liberal abortion law, says she knows of two girls who died of abortion-related complications recently.

One of them used a sharp object to abort, while the other took a herbal concoction. More than half of pregnancies in Malawi were unintended in 2010, according to Lunguzi.

Teenage pregnancies are common; with the tradition of girls marrying young favoring early sexual activity which is right by the law as the minimum marriage age is 15 years, though people younger than 18 years need parental permission to marry.

"Most abortions happen in rural settings where people are illiterate and do not understand the importance of birth control," said Gerard Kaitano, a medical officer at a clinic in Balaka, 300km south of the capital Lilongwe.

"People mistakenly believe that contraceptive pills affect men's performance in bed," he said. "And most people shun condoms."

Observers also blame the large number of abortions on the conservative nature of Malawian society, where many people are practicing Catholics or other Christians reluctant to educate their children about sexual issues.

"Because you hardly hear sexual intercourse and reproductive health being discussed at household level, unwanted pregnancies occur," Lunguzi said.

By Malawian constitution, any individual who aborts illegally faces up to seven years in prison, but in practice, women are rarely jailed.

Lunguzi feels that Malawi should increase awareness about how to avoid unwanted pregnancies rather than "giving a blank cheque to unprotected sex" by liberalizing abortion.

"What I am eager to focus on is the prevention of unprotected sexual intercourse, abstinence, and the use of family planning methods including condoms," she says.

Unsafe abortion is a major public health concern for many developing countries, with Africa having one of the highest risk levels as majority of the population remains entrenched in poverty, superstitions, secrecy, ignorance and illiteracy.