By Edinah Masiyiwa
In response to the pressure from early marriages and the rise of adolescent pregnancy, a new law was passed in Zimbabwe that raised the age for sexual consent from 16 to 18 years. This is known as the Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Children and Young Persons Act 2024) and it criminalises having sex with persons under the age of 18 years. The law also criminalises deliberate infection of the child with HIV or any other sexually transmitted disease.
This is a law that has been passed because Zimbabweans think that criminalizing sex with girls below the age of 18 will stop unwanted pregnancies. However, the law is silent on what happens if the child does fall pregnant. The law won’t be enough to prevent all teen pregnancies, and other measures must also be put in place to support girls who become pregnant.
As a person who has an interest in adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SHR), I have witnessed many pregnant adolescents in waiting mothers’ shelters all over Zimbabwe.
These pregnancies have a negative impact. Being a teenager is challenging. This is made worse if someone is to fall pregnant when they are below 18 years. A study carried out in Zimbabwe revealed that more than 4,557 girls, a majority based in rural areas (3942), dropped out of Zimbabwean schools in 2023 due to pregnancy, and of these, 134 of these girls were 13 years or younger, in primary school. This has been described by many as a pregnancy crisis for adolescents. This evidence shows that young girls are having sex below the age of 18 years.
A study carried out by UNFPA (2023) revealed that out of the 1532 maternal deaths recorded from 2019 to 2022, 25% of these deaths were among adolescents and young women below the age 25 years.
Adolescents have distinct sexual and reproductive health needs that remain unmet, mainly as a result of lack of knowledge, social stigma, laws and policies preventing delivery of contraception and abortion to unmarried (or any) adolescents, and judgmental attitudes amidst service providers. This new law will further worsen the challenges faced by adolescents in accessing contraceptives or general sexual health information.
A study done by N. Woollet et al (2021) recommended that to preserve sexual and reproductive health, adolescents must have access to accurate information and to the safe, effective, affordable and acceptable contraception method they choose. This recommendation echoes what have been the calls by all who are implementing sexual and reproductive health programmes for young people in Zimbabwe. The calls have been focused on access to services. Yet, here we are, with a law that criminalises early sexual activity.
Even if the new law criminalises sexual intercourse with someone below 18 years, there is still a need for access to sexual and reproductive health services. We must not assume that because of the new law young girls will suddenly stop having sexual intercourse. There has been this tendency to ignore the fact that adolescents are having sex and falling pregnant.
On the upside, before, it could be hard for teenagers to access an abortion. Now that the age of consent for sexual intercourse has been put at 18 years, one can conclude that according to the law, everyone who falls pregnant below age 18 has been raped. Therefore, these girls should be allowed to have a termination of pregnancy if their parents choose to.
This is because the Termination of Pregnancy Act (1977) stipulates that termination is allowed if the pregnancy is because of unlawful sexual intercourse, which can either be rape or incest. Termination should be made accessible if there is a birth certificate to confirm that the adolescent is below 18 years. There should be no requirement of court processes. the girls who fall pregnant were raped if we are to use the Protection of Children and Young Person’s Act as producing a birth certificate would show the age of the girl. Offering adolescents safe abortions will reduce maternal deaths that result from unsafe abortions.
I also call upon schools to give comprehensive sexuality education to adolescent girls that includes information on contraceptives. The focus should be on both preventing early sexual debut as well as preventing adolescent pregnancies. While the Ministry of Education has put several measures to address the problem of early pregnancies, more can be done. Everyone has a role to play in preventing adolescent pregnancies, the families, community and schools.
Lastly, adolescents who choose to continue with their pregnancy should be allowed to continue in school as outlined in the Education Amendment Act of 2020.
