By Memory Pamella Kadau
The previous instalment submitted that abortion doesn’t bring about a moral dilemma as middle ground propagation would argue. It’s clear that safe abortion services should be made accessible to women and this demands policy and legal reforms. This article explored how existing policy framework on abortion perpetuates the vicious cycle of poverty on women and fuels child sexual abuse termed ‘child marriages’.
Abortion and poverty
Poverty wears the face of a woman and the untold story is that hundreds of thousands of women are trapped in poverty because of the existing legal framework for abortion. The Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) Act of 1977 restricts accessibility of abortion services which results in many women giving birth when they lack the financial capacity to cater for the children. High cost of living and informality of the economy largely affect women’s ability to obtain gainful employment. According to Zimbabwe Chamber of Information Economy Associations, 88 percent of economically active women are employed in the informal sector with the vast majority working in agricultural production. The informal sector has low wages and poor working conditions, the majority of women working in it live from hand to mouth.
In addition, the majority of women living in poverty lack adequate information on contraceptive methods which means that they often get unwanted and unintended pregnancies. This means that women who are already in poverty tend to have children they cannot adequately support financially which exacerbates their poverty situation. Children born in poverty lack opportunities to access quality education especially for girls and this limit their life chances. Limited life chances mean that they are unable to make upward social mobility which leaves them and their offsprings trapped in poverty.
Furthermore, the government social welfare department is underfunded and therefore has no capacity to support those in extreme poverty. Most women who give birth due to unintended pregnancies often end up as single mothers lacking support from their partners and without social welfare support they live in extreme poverty with their children. Research by UN Women (2018) show that girls who grow in poverty are at the highest risk of getting early and unintended pregnancies which deepens their poverty situation due to costs of child care. Most of the women in such situations ordinarily prefer to access safe abortion so they are able to terminate pregnancies whose resulting child they are unable to adequately care for.
It thus becomes apparent that policies and laws must allow abortion services to be accessed by women when they need them including post abortion care. More importantly, the State cannot limit accessibility of abortion services while it lacks capacity to provide welfare to women who give birth due to unintended pregnancy.
Correlation between limited access to safe abortion and ‘child marriages’
There is a correlation between limited access to abortion services and child marriages. Girls who indulge in sex with older men often lack ability to negotiate safe sex and this results in unintended pregnancies. Zimbabwe’s cultural practices proscribes pregnancies out of wedlock and families routinely send girls who have fallen pregnant to their partners even if they are not interested in marriage. This means that girls who find themselves pregnant are forced to get married and oftentimes this results in child marriages. These children and forced marriages traumatize them because of the abuse perpetrated by their spouses.
If abortion services are legally accessible to these girls and women then it is possible for them to avoid such unsavoury situations. Existing legal framework on abortion robs women of their dignity which is guaranteed under various provisions of the constitution and international conventions for which Zimbabwe is a party to.
In summation, it is perceivable that existing legal frameworks in Zimbabwe are restrictive on women’s reproductive health rights as noted on how existing policy framework on abortion keeps women in the poverty trap, which promotes child sexual abuse termed ‘child marriages’. The situation is exacerbated by the high employment rates that have resulted in the majority, especially women, making their living in the informal sector that is prone to low production and in-work poverty. Limited access to adequate information on birth control further places women at a greater risk of unintended pregnancies which has a detriment effect of a bleak future. Also, the failure of the government social welfare to provide relief in the form of grants further perpetuates poverty for the women who find themselves in unplanned pregnancy situations.
