Unsafe Abortions Contribute to 13% of Preventable Deaths

28 September 2025
The Namibian (Windhoek)

As the world marks International Safe Abortion Day, an alarm has been raised over the staggering prevalence of unsafe abortions worldwide, urging decisive action to ensure women and girls have access to safe and legal abortion services.

Gynaecologist Dr Koketso Pule, speaking on Sunday during an interview on Newsroom Afrika, highlighted the critical risks associated with unsafe abortions, stating that globally approximately 45% of abortions are performed unsafely. She stated that this contributes to an estimated 3% of preventable maternal deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.

Continued; https://allafrica.com/stories/202509290059.html

28.09.2025

News

Dr Koketso Pule

International Safe Abortion Day

Namibia – Gender Links and partners join global Sixteen Days of Activism Against GBV campaign

By Thenjiwe Ngcobo
25 November 2024

Gender Links (GL) and partners have joined the global community in saying “no” to gender violence. The organisation has launched a multifaceted campaign for the Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) drive.

… Unsafe abortion is a form of GBV. The Safe Abortion Alliance of Southern Africa will meet to devise a regional advocacy strategy from 26 to 28 November, building on the submission made to the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum. A panel of experts will host a webinar on 28 November.

Continued: https://www.namibian.com.na/gender-links-and-partners-join-global-sixteen-days-of-activism-against-gbv-campaign/

25.11.2024

News

Gender Links

gender-based violence

International Human Rights Day

Safe Abortion Alliance of Southern Africa

Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

Namibians Support Women’s Autonomy, Sex Education, and Access to Contraception, but Are Divided On Termination of Pregnancies

27 August 2024
By Christiaan Keulder and Lizl Stoman

Most citizens say girls who get pregnant should be allowed to continue their education.

Key findings
Namibians strongly support women's and girls' autonomy in making decisions about whether and when they should marry (80%) and about the timing and number of children to have (81%). Support for women's autonomy is particularly strong among women, young citizens, and more educated respondents.

Continued: https://allafrica.com/stories/202408280011.html

27.08.2024

News

Abortion and Sterilization Act 2 of 1975

Child Care and Protection Act of 2019

comprehensive sexuality education

Convention on the Rights of the Child

public support for abortion

sexual and reproductive health and rights

SRHR

support for women's autonomy

Namibia: Will the 1975 abortion legislation be amended?

By Africanews and AFP
May 29, 2023

When Alejandra Angula discovered she was pregnant, she panicked. She had not unplanned the pregnancy. Dismayed at the lack of options in her home country, Angula flew to neighbouring South Africa and booked into an abortion clinic in Cape Town.

"I was more scared of having a baby and being forced into parenthood than of the procedure," said the 29-year-old IT worker, who asked for her name to be changed for the purposes of this article.

Continued: https://www.africanews.com/2023/05/29/namibia-will-the-1975-abortion-legislation-be-amended/

Namibia – Centre launched to advance reproductive health

2023-02-10
Van Wyk Amutenya

The Voices for Choice and Rights Coalition (VCRC) launched a Reproductive Justice Centre (RJC) this week, aimed at providing holistic reproductive healthcare services and prioritising the bodily integrity of women, girls and the trans community.

VCRC was established in 2020 to advance the reproductive justice movement in Namibia after a petition was launched, calling for abortion law reform.

Continued: https://neweralive.na/posts/centre-launched-to-advance-reproductive-health

10.02.2023

News

a Reproductive Justice Centre

Tuli Kamati

Victor Maliti

Voices for Choice and Rights Coalition

Dobbs v Jackson judgment in US may stifle women’s reproductive rights as far afield as Africa

Women have a right to an abortion in South Africa that is protected by the Constitution. Yet of the 3,880 health facilities in South Africa, less than 7% provide access to abortion services, and of the 505 medical facilities specifically designated to provide the service, an estimation of only 197 are currently operational.

By Sibusisiwe Ndlela, Charlemaine Husselmann and Primah Kwagala
21 Aug 2022

Recognition of a right to abortion is often the first step towards creating an enabling environment for women to access abortions but in some countries in east and southern Africa, argue the authors, the outcome of the US case may put brakes on little sparks of hope that emerged in recent years.

The right to abortion has been catapulted into the spotlight by Dobbs v Jackson, the landmark judgment of the United States (US) Supreme Court that overturned Roe v Wade — a 50-year-old precedent of that court that first recognised the constitutional right to abortion in the US.

Continued: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-08-21-dobbs-v-jackson-judgment-may-further-stifle-womens-reproductive-rights-as-far-afield-as-africa/

Opinion – Abortion on demand in Namibia

2022-04-01
Staff Reporter

‘Abortion on demand’ in Namibia has been ignorantly and harmfully connotated as the moral decay of a nation in that individuals who seek this essential health service (on demand), do so because they are irreligious, reckless and uncouth and not because it is a fundamental right and is just another normal reproductive healthcare procedure, which many people overlook with gay abandon. Some have gone as far as calling it premeditated murder, whilst others accuse individuals who seek this health care service of casting a ‘curse’ on the nation (using biblical overtones), as if choosing to terminate a pregnancy at one’s own volition will suddenly compromise the image of Namibia to all the many deities supposedly keeping score on the nation’s puritanical history.

The history of the current ‘Abortion and Sterilization Act No.2 of 1975’ cannot
be understated, as it has already been established that this restrictive law
was inherited 47 years ago from the apartheid administration which had
colonised Namibia.

Continued: https://neweralive.na/posts/opinion-abortion-on-demand-in-namibia

Namibia – Traditional leaders oppose abortion law reform

2022-01-24
ELIASER NDEYANALE at ONESI

TRADITIONAL and community leaders within the Uukolonkadhi Traditional Authority on Saturday spoke out against the amendment of Namibia's abortion law, saying this would reduce the country to the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah.

They were speaking at a public hearing by the parliamentary standing committee on gender equality, social development and family affairs with regard to reforming the Abortion and Sterilisation Act No. 2 of 1975.

Continued: https://www.namibian.com.na/109337/read/Traditional-leaders-oppose-abortion-law-reform

24.01.2022

News

Abortion and Sterilisation Act

Abortion and Sterilisation Act No. 2 of 1975

Care and compassion over colonialism: Namibia must protect women and girls seeking abortions

By Marie-Evelyne Petrus Barry and Bience Gawanas
21 Oct 2021

Namibia’s parliament is debating reforms to the abortion law that would bring the country in line with international standards on sexual and reproductive health rights. Activists, medical doctors and public health experts are urging lawmakers to ensure that ‘every pregnancy in Namibia should be a wanted pregnancy’.

This past week, we have watched with great interest and hope as Namibia’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Social Development and Family Affairs held its first four days of public hearings on whether to reform its Abortion and Sterilisation Act of 1975.

Continued: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-10-21-care-and-compassion-over-colonialism-namibia-must-protect-women-and-girls-seeking-abortions/

Parliament invites public to abortion law hearing

15 October 2021 | Local News

Windhoek • jana@namibiansun.com

Activists and lawmakers, including Namibia's deputy health minister, have
welcomed the first public parliamentary hearings on legalising abortion since
the country's independence slated for next week.

“My position always has been for people to have open discussions on any topic,
whether its abortion or whatever. Because if people don’t discuss issues and
deliberate on them, how do we take an informed decision?” deputy minister of
health, Esther Muinjangue, said on Friday.

Continued: https://www.we.com.na/news/parliament-invites-public-to-abortion-law-hearing2021-10-15

15.10.2021