March 21, 2024
Watipaso Mzungu JNR
A consortium of civil society organizations (CSOs) implementing Breaking the Barriers Project has made an impassionate appeal to the media in the country to question why, up to now, government is reluctant to table the Termination of Pregnancy Bill in Parliament.
11 MARCH 2024
Centre for Solutions Journalism (Blantyre)
By Penelope Paliani Kamanga
Blantyre — Data from Blantyre District Health Office shows that the majority of people seeking post-abortion care are young girls. Of the 2003 reported cases that were treated for post-abortion care from unsafe abortions in the last quarter of 2023, a staggering 1003 were under the age of 20, while 1000 were slightly over 20 years old.
Blantyre-based youth activist Rebecca Majamanda said the figures highlight the vulnerability of adolescent girls and young women to the risks associated with unsafe abortion practices, including severe health complications and death.
28 SEPTEMBER 2023
Centre for Solutions Journalism (Blantyre)
28 September marks the annual International Safe Abortion Day. As Malawi joins the rest of the world in commemorating the day, it is important for the government to fulfill the commitment made in the National Postabortion Care Policy that 'no woman should suffer or die from complications of abortion in Malawi.'
Despite making the commitment, the reality is that many women and girls continue to die from unsafe abortion.
Recent data from the Ministry of Health shows an upsurge of unsafe abortions in several districts in Malawi, as reflected in the number of women and girls seeking post-abortion care in health facilities.
Jun 17, 2021
Russell Kondowe
Chiradzulu West Member of Parliament Dr Mathews Ngwale has withdrawn his intention to table a private member’s motion on Abortion Bill, saying stakeholders should continue sensitising and civic-educating people in the country about what the bill says.
Ngwale who is also Chairperson
for the Parliamentary Committee on Health said a lot of people are not aware of
the importance for law on safe abortion to be legislated hence it is important
for people to be sensitised.
Continued: https://malawi24.com/2021/06/17/abortion-motion-withdrawn-to-pave-way-for-civic-education/
After condemning abortion reform as an imposition of “foreign cultures”, a religious group in Malawi took thousands of dollars in foreign cash
Josephine Chinele
30 March 2021
A Catholic group in Malawi used money from the US to support its campaign against a bill to allow legal abortion in cases of rape – after condemning proposed reforms as an imposition of “foreign cultures”.
The Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), a local assembly of Catholic bishops, received a $30,000 grant from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 2019 for “pastoral animation and advocacy of members of parliament and the laity in political leadership”.
By Lameck Masina
March 12, 2021
BLANTYRE, MALAWI - Malawi's National Assembly has rejected 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, lawmakers on Thursday unanimously rejected a motion to debate the long-delayed Termination of Pregnancy Bill.
The bill, pushed by activists since 2015, aimed to expand legal abortion from cases where the mother’s life is at risk to include rape, incest, fetal deformity, and threats to health.
Continued: https://www.voanews.com/africa/malawi-parliament-rejects-debate-liberalizing-abortion-law
10 MARCH 2021
By Chipambano Mbewe, Nyasa Times (Leeds)
The Malawi Parliamentary Health Committee says it will present and move a
motion of the Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) bill on Thursday, March 11 2021 in
the Parliament which will also be presented as a Private Member's Bill
respectively in the face of opposition from faith groups.
If passed, the termination of pregnancy bill would allow abortions when a
woman's mental or physical health is in danger, in cases of rape and incest,
and when there are serious foetal abnormalities.
Abortion advocates have welcomed the passage of laws to decriminalise the procedure in South Australia.
03/03/2021
South Australia is the latest Australian jurisdiction to formally decriminalise abortion, after the state's upper house ticked off new laws.
The passage of the Termination of Pregnancy Bill on Tuesday came after the lower house in February passed the legislation 29 votes to 15.
Roughly 12,000 women die from back street abortions each year in Malawi, yet continuing efforts to relax strict laws face heavy opposition
By Henry Kijimwana Mhango, MANGOCHI, MALAWI
19 February 2021
It was Angrita's only choice: to terminate a pregnancy by any means necessary and save her family from shame. But the procedure took her to the grave.
The 14 year old orphan was rejected by a man who she says impregnated her. Dorothy Fundai, her grandmother, hides tears as she recalls how Angrita’s fear of being a “laughing stock” in her remote village near Mangochi, at the southern tip of Lake Malawi, drove her to adopt dangerous methods to terminate her pregnancy.
By Mahalia Carter
Feb 15, 2021
Debate has begun in South Australia's Lower House on proposed reforms to abortion laws, after legislation passed through the Upper House last year.
The Termination of Pregnancy Bill aims to shift abortion out of the criminal code and into healthcare legislation.
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