Author: Edinah Masiyiwa

Time To Put Back Teenage Pregnancy, Abortion On The Political Agenda

Edinah Masiyiwa

By Edinah Masiyiwa As we commemorate both the International Safe Abortion Day on the 28th  September and World Contraception Day on the 26th of September, we should be sure to focus on the problem of early unintended pregnancies among girls ages 10 to 14 years. A few weeks ago, news of these early pregnancies was featured in different media of Zimbabwe thanks to a new survey conducted on the topic which revealed that the adolescent 10 to 19 years pregnancy rate is at 23%.. A United Nations Populations Fund  report…

Pin
Share
Tweet
0 Shares
Read More

As World Population Reaches 8 Billion, It’s Time To Look Beyond The Numbers

Edinah Masiyiwa

In a statement World Population Day United Nations for the recent World Population Day, the UN General Secretary expressed that while the world will reach the 8 billion population mark this year, it is important to not focus on the numerical figure but on the actual people. By Edinah Masiyiwa The State of World Population 2023 report, published by the United Nations Population Fund, calls for reframing narratives surrounding population growth, urging leaders to consider women’s rights and the ability to freely make reproductive choices. This report further highlights that the…

Pin
Share
Tweet
0 Shares
Read More

A Well-Resourced Health System Essential For Zimbabwe to Attain Reproductive Justice

Edinah Masiyiwa

By Edinah Masiyiwa, Executive Director Women’s Action Group Attending a recent workshop organized by the Community Working Group on Health on “reproductive justice” reminded me how much the core values of reproductive justice are being violated in Zimbabwe and how much we need to protect girls and young women from injustice. The term reproductive justice has a history in feminist ideology and has three core values: the right to have a child, the right to not have a child, and the right to parent a child or children in safe…

Pin
Share
Tweet
0 Shares
Read More

Going Beyond The Legal Framework On Abortion To Save Lives of Women and Girls

Edinah Masiyiwa

By Edinah Masiyiwa Nokutenda Hwaramba was a 15-year-old girl who recently died at a shrine whilst giving birth. Her life, like that of other pregnant girls giving birth in shrines, was cut short for preventable causes and this angers me so much. One of the reasons given for why girls like Nokutenda did not deliver safely in a health center is “church doctrine,”’ which left them under the care of untrained religious people. One wonders why such a doctrine is still allowed in Zimbabwe, a country which signed the Maputo…

Pin
Share
Tweet
0 Shares
Read More

As International Safe Abortion Day Draws Closer, Its Time To Reflect on progress towards access to safe abortion for women and girls

Edinah Masiyiwa

The 28th of September is International Safe Abortion Day, and it has two themes: “Diverse Actions, Different Places, One Demand: Access to Safe and Legal Abortion Now” and “Abortion in Uncertain Times.” By Edinah Masiyiwa These themes speak to me as an advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights, and they give me energy to continue working on safe abortion access. They communicate that firstly, we will achieve access to safe abortion through working in our different spaces from research, to advocacy, to awareness raising at community and policy…

Pin
Share
Tweet
0 Shares
Read More

Restrictive Termination Of Pregnancy Laws Won’t Stop Unsafe Abortions

Edinah Masiyiwa

As part of my work as Executive Director of Women’s Action Group, I have been conducting Value Clarification and Attitude Transformation (VCAT) workshops on abortion. Through them, I have interacted with more than 500 young people, policy makers and service providers. It is amazing how each and every one of the participants has an abortion story to tell. This shows the extent to which women are having abortions, and mostly unsafe ones. The fact that women are having unsafe abortions was confirmed by a study by Guttmacher Institute (2016) in…

Pin
Share
Tweet
0 Shares
Read More