Activists look to abort the Abortion and Sterilisation Act 2 of 1975
Abortion has been on everyone’s tongues as youth activists are pushing to have it legalised in Namibia.
Rivaldo Kavanga
To date only five African countries have legalised abortion, namely South Africa, Tunisia, Zambia, Cape Verde and Benin. Abortion in Namibia is illegal under the current 46-year-old apartheid-era Abortion and Sterilisation Act of 1975.
Legal background
There are increasing calls to abolish the current Abortion and Sterilisation Act of 1975, an inherited law from the South African apartheid administration, which has denied Namibian women the right to safe abortions while South Africa itself has progressed and legalised abortion.
Namibia’s outdated law does allow women to have an abortion done by a medical practitioner if the pregnancy endangers the health of either the mother or the foetus.
Under this law, abortion can also be performed if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, but rights groups and social workers say survivors still find it difficult to gain access to legal abortions even under these circumstances.
In 2019 and 2020 the Namibian police reported 46 illegal abortions. This figure is a presentation of unsafe abortions that were discovered. In the past two years the Namibian police recorded only 11 legal abortions. From January to August this year the police have recorded seven cases of illegal unsafe abortions while only two legal abortions were carried out.
Meanwhile, in the last three years, calls on lawmakers to amend the law so that abortion can be legalised in Namibia, and be made accessible to all, have increased.
After months of online petitioning and protests in the streets, the government eventually held its first public hearings on abortion in about two decades.
The hearings, which took place during October 2021, gave the platform to both pro-lifers and pro-choicers to present their arguments to members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Social Development and Family Affairs.
‘Abortion is murder’
The pro-life pressure group, mainly driven from a religious perspective, pushed their main argument that abortion is murder since they believe that life begins at conception.
At the public hearings, churches said they would be more than willing to look after unwanted babies rather than to have the foetuses aborted.
Dr Shirley Magaza, a pastor, said the church can open up and provide shelter to unwanted babies as well as provide counselling services. “I am so done with the narrative of secular nation. It is time to define secular nation within the context of Namibia. Namibia belongs to God. Imagine, 80% Christians being subjected to anti-Christian laws, this is wrong!” she posted on her personal Facebook page. The church has further argued that legalising abortion would lead to the depreciation of the moral fabric of society.
‘My body, my choice’
On the other hand, the Voices for Choices and Rights Coalition, a nationwide movement of voices advocating for the choices reflective of bodily autonomy and freedom from the structural violence of restrictive abortion laws, wants abortion to be legalised up to the seventh month of pregnancy.
The Voices for Choices and Rights Coalition wants abortion to be accessible to girls as young as 12 without parental consent as to be available to HIV positive people, trans and queer people.
Their demand is that the government must replace the Abortion and Sterilisation Act of 1975 with a new Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy and Sterilisation Act.
The main point of argument from the pro-choice movement is that women, trans and queer people deserve the right to bodily autonomy, to decide what they do with their bodies. The movement also looks to legalise abortion in order to prevent social issues such as poverty. Namibia has been hit with a high rate of teenage pregnancies in the past years, with 2320 girls dropping out of school in 2020 due to pregnancy.
Laws restricting access to abortion do not discourage women from having abortions. They rather increase the number of unsafe abortions that happen behind closed doors, backstreets and in the dark.
Will abortion be legalised?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged member states including Namibia to address unsafe abortions as a major public health issue. Dr Emvula David, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, says that from a clinical point of view the best decision to take would be to legalise abortion. “In countries where abortion is illegal, unsafe abortions occur twice as much as compared in countries where abortion is legalised,” he added.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services of Namibia has hinted at the amendment of the Abortion and Sterilisation Act 2 of 1975 stating that the Act is outdated and must be amended to have a more inclusive law that addresses the new realities we face.
Infographics
Namibia recorded 64 illegal unsafe abortions from 2018 to 2020.
Namibia recorded 11 legal abortions in 2019 and 2020
A petition in Namibia showed that more than 62 000 Namibians believe that safe termination of a pregnancy should be legal.
The current Abortion and Sterilisation Act of 1975 is 46 years old.
The debate about when life starts is pivotal in the abortion debate.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics found that in countries where abortion is legal, unsafe abortions account for 12 per 100 000 women while in countries where abortion is illegal unsafe abortions are almost twice as high.
To date only five African countries have legalised abortion, namely South Africa, Tunisia, Zambia, Cape Verde and Benin. Abortion in Namibia is illegal under the current 46-year-old apartheid-era Abortion and Sterilisation Act of 1975.
Legal background
There are increasing calls to abolish the current Abortion and Sterilisation Act of 1975, an inherited law from the South African apartheid administration, which has denied Namibian women the right to safe abortions while South Africa itself has progressed and legalised abortion.
Namibia’s outdated law does allow women to have an abortion done by a medical practitioner if the pregnancy endangers the health of either the mother or the foetus.
Under this law, abortion can also be performed if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, but rights groups and social workers say survivors still find it difficult to gain access to legal abortions even under these circumstances.
In 2019 and 2020 the Namibian police reported 46 illegal abortions. This figure is a presentation of unsafe abortions that were discovered. In the past two years the Namibian police recorded only 11 legal abortions. From January to August this year the police have recorded seven cases of illegal unsafe abortions while only two legal abortions were carried out.
Meanwhile, in the last three years, calls on lawmakers to amend the law so that abortion can be legalised in Namibia, and be made accessible to all, have increased.
After months of online petitioning and protests in the streets, the government eventually held its first public hearings on abortion in about two decades.
The hearings, which took place during October 2021, gave the platform to both pro-lifers and pro-choicers to present their arguments to members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Social Development and Family Affairs.
‘Abortion is murder’
The pro-life pressure group, mainly driven from a religious perspective, pushed their main argument that abortion is murder since they believe that life begins at conception.
At the public hearings, churches said they would be more than willing to look after unwanted babies rather than to have the foetuses aborted.
Dr Shirley Magaza, a pastor, said the church can open up and provide shelter to unwanted babies as well as provide counselling services. “I am so done with the narrative of secular nation. It is time to define secular nation within the context of Namibia. Namibia belongs to God. Imagine, 80% Christians being subjected to anti-Christian laws, this is wrong!” she posted on her personal Facebook page. The church has further argued that legalising abortion would lead to the depreciation of the moral fabric of society.
‘My body, my choice’
On the other hand, the Voices for Choices and Rights Coalition, a nationwide movement of voices advocating for the choices reflective of bodily autonomy and freedom from the structural violence of restrictive abortion laws, wants abortion to be legalised up to the seventh month of pregnancy.
The Voices for Choices and Rights Coalition wants abortion to be accessible to girls as young as 12 without parental consent as to be available to HIV positive people, trans and queer people.
Their demand is that the government must replace the Abortion and Sterilisation Act of 1975 with a new Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy and Sterilisation Act.
The main point of argument from the pro-choice movement is that women, trans and queer people deserve the right to bodily autonomy, to decide what they do with their bodies. The movement also looks to legalise abortion in order to prevent social issues such as poverty. Namibia has been hit with a high rate of teenage pregnancies in the past years, with 2320 girls dropping out of school in 2020 due to pregnancy.
Laws restricting access to abortion do not discourage women from having abortions. They rather increase the number of unsafe abortions that happen behind closed doors, backstreets and in the dark.
Will abortion be legalised?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged member states including Namibia to address unsafe abortions as a major public health issue. Dr Emvula David, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, says that from a clinical point of view the best decision to take would be to legalise abortion. “In countries where abortion is illegal, unsafe abortions occur twice as much as compared in countries where abortion is legalised,” he added.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services of Namibia has hinted at the amendment of the Abortion and Sterilisation Act 2 of 1975 stating that the Act is outdated and must be amended to have a more inclusive law that addresses the new realities we face.
Infographics
Namibia recorded 64 illegal unsafe abortions from 2018 to 2020.
Namibia recorded 11 legal abortions in 2019 and 2020
A petition in Namibia showed that more than 62 000 Namibians believe that safe termination of a pregnancy should be legal.
The current Abortion and Sterilisation Act of 1975 is 46 years old.
The debate about when life starts is pivotal in the abortion debate.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics found that in countries where abortion is legal, unsafe abortions account for 12 per 100 000 women while in countries where abortion is illegal unsafe abortions are almost twice as high.
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