Times Of Swaziland: LEGALISE ABORTION

LEGALISE ABORTION
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BY MBONGISENI NDZIMANDZE  on 28/07/2017 09:06:00


MBABANE – It’s a wait and see if Swaziland will take a recommendation to
legalise abortion.
The country has been urged to adopt laws allowing voluntary abortion. This was
one of the recommendations made by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in
Geneva.
In its concluding observations on Swaziland, the committee said the country
should adopt the legislation provided in Article 15 of the Constitution and
eliminate legal procedural obstacles to access  voluntary termination of
pregnancy.
According to the committee, this would ensure that women were not prompted to
resort to clandestine abortions that put their lives and health at risk.
The country’s  Constitution provides that, abortion was unlawful but might be
allowed: on medical or therapeutic grounds, including where a doctor certifies
that – continued pregnancy will endanger the life or constitute a serious
threat to the physical health of the woman; continued pregnancy will constitute
a serious threat to the mental health of the woman; there is serious risk that
the child will suffer from physical or mental defect of such a nature that the
child will be irreparably seriously handicapped.
The committee stated that it was concerned at the significant increase of
maternal mortality rate resulting from unsafe abortions.
“The committee is further concerned at the lack of clarity regarding the
circumstances in which voluntary termination of pregnancy is legally available
and that Swaziland had not yet adopted the legislation as provided for under
Article 15 in the Constitution,” reads part of the report. It further
expressed its concern at reports that cumbersome procedural requirements of
court orders and refusal to perform abortion on grounds of conscientious
objection, had obstructed access to women or girls seeking lawful abortions.
Another concern was the high pregnancy rate in the country. Swaziland was urged
to collect disaggregated data on maternal mortality, including risks to women
resulting from unsafe abortion. The country was further called upon to adopt
clear protocols for service providers to ensure meaningful access to legal
abortion.