Mzimba records 50 abortions a month

Statistics show that about 150 women in Mzimba conducted back street abortions between December 2016 and February this year. 

Dan Kwacha, a health worker at Mzimba District Hospital, blamed the situation on mass departure of men to South Africa for employment.

“Women are left alone for years.  They later resort to extra-marital affairs. Those who get pregnant opt for abortion not to ruin their marriages,” he said.

Kwacha belongs to the Coalition for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortion (Copua) which is championing liberalisation of laws that restrict termination of pregnancy except to save a woman’s life.

A new study by the College of Medicine and US-based Guttmacher Institute shows 141 000 women sought clandestine abortions in 2015. 

On Thursday, two of the researchers, Dr Chisale Mhango and Dr Chelsea Polis, called for increased uptake of modern family planning methods and relaxation of abortion laws. n