Abortion law review necessary—Copua
Days after CCAP Nkhoma Synod called on the nation to reject the legalisation of abortion; the Coalition for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortion (Copua) has said the synod is contradicting itself because abortion is already legal in Malawi as per Section 243 of the Penal Code.
Section 243 of the Penal Code says performing an abortion is not a crime if it is done “for the preservation of the mother’s life, if the performance of the operation is reasonable, having regard to the patient’s state at the time, and to all the circumstances of the case.”
In its statement signed by advocacy officer Bright Mhango, Copua said it is glad that the synod in point number six of their statement actually agrees with what the group asks for.
“By saying abortion can be procured under ‘clearly stipulated medical ethics which be applied when the life of the mother or child is in danger’ the synod is right, but the point is that there are no such guidelines in Malawi. The guidelines have to start with the law,” said Mhango.
He underlined that Malawi is not at a stage for trying to debate whether abortion is good or not, or whether life begins at conception or not but rather what should be content of the law taking into account the various issues looking at the dangerous situation the country is in at the moment.
Mhango further argued that apart from this section, there are hardly standards and guidelines to guide citizens, policy makers, NGOs, Ministry of Health, specialists, doctors, clinical officers, nurses, midwives and medical assistants on how to apply this section.
In Malawi, according to data from a 2011 Ministry of Health report, more than 70 000 women have abortions every year, or, 24 abortions for every 1000 women aged, 15-44 and approximately 31 000 are treated for complications of unsafe abortion annually.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has created a set of guidelines on performing safe abortion and Copua argues that Malawi should adopt such expert advice.
