HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The High Court of Zimbabwe has declared illegal a legislation that prohibits abortion services for women raped by their husbands and for girls under the age of 18.
In his verdict issued on November 22 and disclosed last week, Judge Maxwell Takuva stated that, given Zimbabwe’s laws already prohibit marital rape and sexual relations with minors, victims should be permitted to terminate pregnancies resulting from such acts.
The verdict is consequential, considering Zimbabwe’s stringent abortion regulations that frequently compel women and girls to resort to illegal and hazardous clandestine abortions, which often result in fatalities.
Abortion is permitted in limited circumstances in Zimbabwe, specifically where the pregnancy poses a threat to the woman’s life or if there is a likelihood of a physical or mental disability that would result in the child being permanently severely handicapped. Women may also obtain legal abortion services in instances of criminal sexual acts, including incest.
In September, Zimbabwe enacted legislation prohibiting sexual relations with anyone under 18, subsequent to a constitutional court ruling mandating parliament to elevate the legal age of consent from 16 to 18. However, the stringent Termination of Pregnancy Act continues to prohibit abortion procedures for individuals under 18.
“There is no doubt that it is torture, cruel and degrading treatment for a child to carry another child, for a child to give birth to another child or for a child to be forced to illegally abort because of cruel circumstances,” said the judge.
The government did not mount any opposition to the case, which was brought by a women’s rights group, although the ruling must still be approved by the Constitutional Court to become effective.
The judge said providing access to safe and legal abortion services for underage girls “is significant in light of the massive instances of teenage pregnancies in Zimbabwe, and consequently illegal teen abortions and teenage mortalities.”
The country of 15 million people records about 77,000 unsafe abortions annually, but many others go unreported. Many girls and women die from abortion complications each year, according to the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF.
Teen pregnancies are rife in the southern African country because of lax enforcement of laws, cultural and religious practices and widespread poverty that also make it difficult for girls and women to access contraceptives and clinics.
Almost one of every four girls falls pregnant between the ages of 10 and 19, according to figures by the government and UNICEF. One of every three girls is wed before age 18 in the deeply conservative southern African country where girls are usually culturally forced to marry men responsible for their unplanned pregnancies.
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