Narrow escape from death

When Chisomo, 20, started vomiting regularly before she skipped her menses, she realised it could only be a pointer to one thing; she had an unplanned pregnancy.

As a school girl, the thought that she could be expectant horrified her. If it was true, the pregnancy would not only infuriate her parents, but would also result in her dropping out of school.

“I was heartbroken for fear of my parents as well as being expelled from school,” recalls Chisomo, who was 18 years old at the time and a Form Two student at Machinjiri Secondary School in Blantyre.

Chisomo later discussed the pregnancy fears with her boyfriend, who was six years her senior and worked as an assistant in a shop in Blantyre’s business district of Limbe.

The unmarried boyfriend, who also lived in Machinjiri Township as Chisomo, advised her to go for a pregnancy test at a health centre for confirmation and determination of its length.

“My fears were confirmed after results showed I was three months pregnant,” says Chisomo. “To my surprise, my boyfriend denied responsibility before he angrily ended our relationship.”

That was when she decided to terminate the pregnancy, despite an aunt who worked as a midwife telling her to accept what had happened and spoke against terminating it.

With encouragement from a friend in the neighbourhood, Chisomo drank a liquid washing detergent believed to be effective in terminating pregnancies, with near disastrous results.

“I bled severely. My friend called for an ambulance and I was rushed to Machinjiri Health Centre from where I was referred to Queens [Queen Elizabeth Central] Hospital,” Chisomo said.

“I was taken to the gynaecology ward for dilatation and curettage [D&C] as I had aborted a four month-pregnancy and doctors needed to remove the remaining products of conception. If God had not been on my side, I would have been dead by now.”

Chisomo’s is one of countless stories told across the country by women who have had unsafe abortions that not only endangered their lives, but are also a strain on the country’s resources.

Government is losing about K300 million (about $790 000) every year to treat close to 47 000 women who have unsafe abortion-related complications admitted to health facilities nationwide, according to a study the Ministry of Health (MoH) conducted in 2009.

The study further revealed that between 48 600 and 86 000 induced abortions are procured each year, translating to 11 induced abortions for every 100 babies born alive.

It also indicates that many other women who procure abortion do not die, but one in every five women is maimed by severe complications, including infertility and damages to the womb.

Activists have since been pushing for a new law to legalise abortion, but movement in this direction has been slow.

The Malawi Law Commission has been engaging stakeholders to discuss tentative findings and recommendations of the Special Law Commission (SLC) on the review of the law on abortion.

According to the findings presented by SLC chairperson, Commissioner Justice Esme Chombo, after a lot of discussions and considering views from stakeholders, the commission settled for liberalisation of the law on abortion under limited circumstances.

Justice Chombo says safe abortion can only be done within 16 weeks of the pregnancy.

Sharing similar sentiments, a representative from the Coalition for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortion (Copua), Mateyu Msiska, says although issues of abortion are sensitive to handle, there is need to set the law free to save women’s lives.

Kondwani Mkandawire, Medical Council of Malawi (MCM) assistant registrar responsible for professional practice, concurs with Msiska. He says abortion is claiming a lot of lives, especially among teenagers.

Mkandawire says whether abortion is legalised or liberalised, the council’s stand remains that a pregnancy should be terminated if need arises. He says this can be done after thorough assessment by at least three doctors.

“The council will only entertain a woman or a girl who wants to terminate the pregnancy if there is a medical condition or any indication that the life of a girl or a mother is at risk,” Mkandawire says.

However, abortion is still a contentious issue among religious groups who have often voiced displeasure about the practice. They say it is wrong to terminate life.

Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Blantyre Synod health development officer, Chisomo Kastom, says they do not condone abortion because it is illegal.

“We believe life begins at conception, so allowing abortion is tantamount to killing and as such, we only encourage the use of contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies,” says Kastom.

But Chisomo, who says she got pregnant when her lover stopped using condoms, strongly disagrees. She says it is high time government liberalised the law on abortion to save lives.

“Although some are saying abortion is tantamount to murder, I feel that legalising it will save a lot of lives as there are many abortion-related complications that go unreported,” says Chisomo.

She says stakeholders may agree or disagree on the issue, but what matters to her is that at the end of the day, they should find a solution to save lives and government finances.

“Responsible authorities should make abortion legal so that other women should not experience what I went through,” Chisomo says.

Charity Mwesa, a Blantyre vegetable vendor in her late 30s, agrees with those who are calling for liberalisation of the abortion law, saying the current one impinges on women’s rights.

“The law says abortion is illegal and those who break it risk lengthy jail sentences, leaving the man responsible for the pregnancy free,” says Mwesa. “The current law favours men. It is unfair.”

The Malawi penal code of 1930 (sections 149-151), says carrying an abortion is illegal and a person who unlawfully uses any means with intent to procure an abortion is subject to 14 years imprisonment.

Under the same penal code, a pregnant woman who unlawfully uses any means or permits the use of such means with intent to procure her own abortion is subject to seven years imprisonment.

A person, who unlawfully supplies or procures anything whatever, knowing that it is intended to be unlawfully used to procure an abortion, is subject to three years imprisonment.

Nonetheless, section 243 of the penal code provides that abortions can be legally performed in Malawi to save the life of a pregnant woman.

The section provides that a person is not criminally responsible for performing in good faith and with reasonable care and skill a surgical operation upon an unborn child for the preservation of the mother’s life if the performance of the operation is reasonable.

However, Chifundo Kapalamula, another Blantyre resident, is against calls to liberalise abortion. He says doing so will only promote prostitution and increase unwanted pregnancies.

“Legalising abortion will encourage promiscuity among women and young girls as they will feel it is their right to get pregnant and abort,” says Kapalamula.

“Besides, Malawi is deemed as a God-fearing nation. So, encouraging abortion would be good as allowing people to take each other’s lives. This is a sin and should not be allowed in Malawi.”