Times Of Swaziland: WOMEN SUPPORT JUDGE QINISILE’S VIEW ON LEGALISING ABORTION

WOMEN SUPPORT JUDGE QINISILE’S VIEW ON LEGALISING ABORTION
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Melisa Msweli on 05/10/2020 08:30:00


MBABANE - Should abortion be legalised in the country?
This is a question that begs for an answer after utterances made by Judge
Qinisile Mabuza. Mabuza heard a case involving a 26-year-old woman, who was
accused of causing the death of her four-year-old son, by drowning him in a
river. It was reported that the child’s father had denied paternity, leaving
the woman to raise the child alone. This prompted the judge to question what
provisions were available for women, who found themselves in similar situations.
The Constitution of the country provides that abortion 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.
Abortion
The supreme law of the land also allows abortion in situations where 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. When
members of the public were engaged, most males were against abortion being
legalised while females were for the idea. It should be noted that some of the
reasons previously bought forth, by accused persons for committing illegal
abortions or killing minors included that their fathers were either not
supporting the children or they denied paternity of the child.
Sinenkhosi Mathonsi said she was of the view that abortion needed to be
legalised to eliminate, among other things, unwanted children. She quoted a
recent incident of a woman, who allegedly killed her child after the father
denied paternity. “It would eliminate a lot of things, especially in an far as
the development of the country is concerned,” she said. Mathonsi said the
money meant to pay for orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) among others,
would be redirected to other important projects. Sizwe Thwala also supported the
view that abortion should be legalised.
He said he strongly believed the reason many elderly people were stuck with
‘abandoned’ grandchildren was because the parents did not want the children,
but had no choice since there were no provisions for voluntary abortion in the
country.