All posts by House of Quinn

Termination of Pregnancy

Position Paper on Termination of Pregnancy

 Background: Mildred Mapingure vs Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Minister of Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs 

In 2012 a Chegutu woman, Mildred Mapingure successfully sued the Ministries of Home Affairs, Justice and Health following her failure to secure a termination after she had fallen pregnant because of rape. Though she followed the procedure as set out in the Termination of Pregnancy Act by the time she secured a termination it was too late for doctors to perform the procedure. In holding the state liable, the court highlighted the areas of the law that needed to be addressed to ensure that no other woman will be failed by the law. Seven years ago, the Ministry of Health and Child Care, as the Ministry responsible for administering the ToP Act, was tasked by the Supreme Court to effect these critical changes. 

Legal gaps: Mapingure case 

In its analysis of the Termination of Pregnancy Act, the Supreme Court highlighted that the absence of a procedural guide was a challenge, women could not easily determine what the law required. The Court acknowledged that further clarification is required. The Supreme Court pointed out that s 5(4) of the Act is inadequately framed and lacks sufficient clarity as to what exactly a victim of rape or other unlawful intercourse is required to do when confronted with an unintended pregnancy. 

  • According to s5(4) (a) (i) and (ii), the issuance of a magisterial certificate is preceded by a complaint having been lodged with the authorities and the submission of relevant documents by those authorities. The term “authorities” is not defined in the Act. It is necessary to specifically identify the “authorities” that are referred to in the provision and to define their obligations with adequate precision. 
  • The subsection obviously needs to be amended. It is also necessary to systematically spell out the procedural steps that the complainant herself must follow to obtain the requisite magisterial certificate to terminate her pregnancy. This is especially so in the present context, where it is more likely than not that the complainant will not have any legal representation. 

Recommendations: Minister’s Obligations in the Act (Section 3 AND 13) 

Although the ToP Act urgently needs review, issue of abortion is highly contentious and is contested by various religious and traditional making any public hearings on amendment of the law risky. However, the Minister of Health and Child Care can effect some changes to the Act through Statutory Instruments. The Minister of Health and Child Care is mandated under the ToP Act to, 

1. Define designated institutions 

Section 3-The Minister may, by statutory instrument, declare any hospital, clinic, or other institution to be a designated institution for the purposes of this Act and shall specify the person who shall be the superintendent of that designated institution. 

2. Provide regulations for the Act 

The Minister may by regulation provide for all matters which by this Act are required or are permitted to be prescribed or which in his opinion are necessary or convenient to be provided for in order to carry out or give effect to this Act. 

Quick Wins: Areas for Reform 

The procedures for obtaining a termination must be victim friendly, easy to follow and capable of being implemented swiftly. The Minister needs to consider including the following in an SI or regulations, 

1. Expanding the definition of unlawful sexual intercourse to include statutory rape and child sexual exploitation. 

2. Increasing the number of institutions that can provide abortion services by redefining the term “designated institution”. 

3. Providing guidance on the procedure for the application and issuance of a certificate of termination from the Magistrates’ Court. The law should provide for, 

(a). Definition of an authorised person. 

(b). Clearly state that any Magistrate can issue the certificate to avoid practise where only a provincial Magistrate is authorised to issue such certificate. 

(c). Time limit between application and issuance of the certificate (24 hours is preferable). 

(d) Empower VFU to issue certificate of termination in areas where a magistrate is not easily accessible and obligate VFU to keep a register of such authorisations for submission to the local Magistrate. OR 

(e) Consider doing away with the procedure in the Magistrates’ Court in favour of VFU. 

4. Broadening the scope of persons authorised to perform a termination to include midwives and other clinicians. 

Proposed Regulations 

1. Interpretation Section 

“authorised person” means any of the following: a medical practitioner, a general nurse or a midwife or a clinical officer who is trained to perform a termination of pregnancy. 

“medical institution” means a State hospital or clinic or private hospital or clinic or such other medical institution as may be declared to be a medical institution for the purposes of this Act; 

“unlawful sexual intercourse” means— 

  1. (a) rape, including sexual intercourse with a mentally incompetent female; 
  2. (b) sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 16 in contravention of section 70 of the Criminal Law Code; 
  3. (c) sexual intercourse within a prohibited degree of relationship, other than sexual intercourse with a person referred to in paragraph (i) or (j) of subsection (2) of section 75 of the Criminal Law Code. 
  4. 2. Amendments in relation to section 3 
  5. (1) A termination that may lawfully performed in terms of this Act may be carried out in a State hospital or clinic or private hospital or clinic or such other medical institution as may be approved by the Minister to be a medical institution at which a lawful termination of pregnancy may be performed. 
  6. (2) An approval under this regulation— 

(a)must be given in writing, 

(b)must be published by the Ministry in such manner as it thinks appropriate. 

3. Amendment to Section 5(4) 

(a) Immediately after a female person has laid a complaint with the police of unlawful sexual intercourse, the police officer receiving the complaint must arrange for a medical examination to be carried out on the complainant and for a medical report to be compiled. 

(b) The police officer then must advise the complainant that the law provides that, if she so wishes, she is entitled to have her pregnancy lawfully terminated on the ground that the pregnancy was the result of unlawful sexual intercourse. 

(c) If the complainant states that she wishes to have her pregnancy terminated, the police officer must advise the complainant that she must as soon as possible swear an affidavit that the pregnancy was the result of unlawful sexual intercourse and the police office must assist her to draw up and swear this affidavit. 

(d) Not more than 24 hours after the female has sworn the affidavit, a police officer of or above the rank of Assistant Inspector must certify in writing that the complainant has lodged a complaint of unlawful sexual intercourse. 

(e) The police must within 24 hours arrange for the complainant to be conveyed in the presence of a police officer to the nearest medical institution at which it is permitted to perform a lawful termination and arrange for her to be seen by the person in charge of that institution and must hand to the person in charge of the institution and must hand over the complainant’s sworn affidavit, the police affidavit and the medical report to the complainant. 

(f) On receipt by person in charge of the medical institution of the police certificate and the attached affidavit, the person in charge must arrange for a termination to be performed as soon as possible provided that it is still safe to perform the termination. 

(g) An authorised person may perform a termination of pregnancy on the ground that the pregnancy was the result of unlawful sexual intercourse, provided that the procedures below have been followed. 

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Bondage of poverty on young women

A tall, young, beautiful and fair maiden changed and transformed by the traumatic experience she underwent. Sarah a girl aged 18 had been accepted for her Accountancy degree at Chinhoyi University. She came from a family where her father was the breadwinner and toiled for the family.

Sarah commenced school with high hopes of having a bright future, little did she know what life had in store for her. Unfortunately, in her second semester her father passed away and it was a huge loss since he was her only provider.

The young woman persisted with her studies, but life got tougher by the day. Lack of basic commodities such as food, rent and sanitary wear. As the first born in her family out of five she never wanted to burden her grief-stricken mother.

With her beauty most men would have their eyes on her. Sarah befriended a guy named George who was doing his master’s degree. George proved to be a good listener and always had a solution to her problems. He was basically the superhero she was waiting for to save her city.

The charismatic and cunning slowly wormed his way into the life of the young Sarah. He paid her fees for the next semester. Little did she know that she had met the master who knew how to gamble it all and win it all. The two started dating and were romantically involved.

The young naive Sarah had fallen in love and blindly trusted George. She gave her virtue and pride to George. Sarah saw her happily ever after with him and never saw the use of contraceptives. In actual fact George would quickly dismiss the topic when Sarah mentioned the issue.

Suddenly after a month, the young lady started having cold feet as her period was 1 week late. She was in denial for a few weeks and finally gathered the courage to take the pregnancy test. She felt as if someone had poured a bucket of ice-cold water over her.

Sarah confided in her aunt of her condition. They made their way to the supposed house of George. As soon as Sarah and her aunt got to the house, they received the shock of their life. She was greeted by two women who already knew her by name.They introduced themselves as George’s wives and ushered her into the house.

Sarah’s aunt immediately abandoned her, and she was on her own. The few days she lived there; she saw a new side of George. He immediately ordered her to stop her studies. Sarah went back to her mother who gave her condition to be accepted back into the house.

With her Prince Charming transforming into an abusive monster, she saw no other way out. She wasn’t ready to give up on her dreams and goals for a man who was despotic and only wanted her as a baby machine since his wives could not conceive.

Abortion was the only right decision she could make in order to get her life back. With not much money with her, she had to act on her own. She took a hanger and inserted it and pulled as hard as she could. Sarah disposed the life she had extracted from her by burning the remains. She bled profusely and she tied cotton clothes to her legs.

Sarah suffered with the pain for days. She was accepted back home by her mother who nurses her. They were afraid to seek medical attention in fear of being criticised. In addition, as a young

 aspiring Accountant, she couldn’t bear to have a criminal record. Sarah up to date confirms that she suffered casualties due to her illegal abortion which she prefers keeping confidential.

Analysis or possible solution.

As a SA activist of Chinhoyi University l have started to educate women on the Abortion law of Zimbabwe. In addition, impacting knowledge on women having rights over their own bodies. Effective use of contraceptives as a safeguarding tool against mistakes as women we are the ones who carry the evidence on our bodies.

Article by: Tiffany Kanengoni, SA activist, Chinhoyi University

Safe Abortion

Of Choices Made….

My name is Tatenda Mtisi*, I am twenty-two years of age and studying Pharmacy at the University of Zimbabwe.

I was eighteen, still giddy from having made it to university, when it seemed like all I had achieved and hoped to achieve would be brought down by two pink lines on a pregnancy test. It had taken missing my period for the third month in a row for me to finally start entertaining the thought that I could be pregnant. I wasn’t willing to imagine what it would mean if I was actually pregnant. I had a silly feeling I could will the pregnancy away. The father, Simbarashe*, was losing interest in me and could not secure a job because he had no connections. My mother is a single mother who is raising my brother and I all by herself. She had suffered a lot of heartbreaks for me to break her heart by prematurely becoming a mother. I had also started my first year for a Pharmacy degree at my dream university and I could not imagine having to let that go. So, when I turned out to be pregnant I knew there was no way I was keeping the baby.

The first thing Simbarashe thought of saying when I told him was how I was not a virgin when he slept with me. He insisted on this even though we both knew it was not true. I realized then that this was my body, this was my future and this was my baby. Simbarashe could walk away if he wanted, which was what he was doing already, but I could not simply walk away.

 I had to deal with this.

So I talked to my ex-boyfriend who was a nutritionist, he knew a thing or two about these things or so he said. The pills, called cytotec, were very expensive. I tried to beg him to lower the price or give me on credit but he said his hands were tied. These pills, he explained, were gotten from the pharmacy with a prescription why they were insanely expensive.

I don’t know how he did it but Simbarashe found the money and gave it to me. I was to secure the venue and then tell him about it. I was living with my mother in Mabvuku then, that was the only venue I could think of. By a stroke of luck my mother had to visit her village for a week so I had a venue.

On the day the abortion was to be done Simbarashe did not show. When I called him he pretended like he had forgotten but he was never a good liar. He hung up on me and sent a message instead-he was already in Kariba and had forgotten we were supposed to do it that day and he was sorry. I was on my own. I have never felt so lonely in my life, I felt like the whole world had turned against me. It was as if I had done this alone.

It didn’t make it easier that there was need to ‘open the way’ so that the pills could be inserted inside me. Even though Simbarashe had clearly lost interest in me, and I hated him for abandoning me, I wished he was present to do the ‘opening’ but I had to settle for my ex-boyfriend. I hated myself in that moment. Here I was just turned eighteen, pregnant, on my own and being penetrated by my ex-boyfriend so that I could get rid of my boyfriend’s baby. The thought made me laugh and cry at the same time. Where had I gone wrong?

After the pills had been successfully inserted clots of blood started coming out of me, I was vomiting and had diarrhea. I had been told to expect this but I have also been told that even though it’s simply bleeding for a few days for most women things could go wrong.

And they went wrong for me. Very wrong.

When my mother came back four days later, I looked and felt like a ghost. I was losing a lot of blood by the hour pads alone could not hold it in-I had resorted to sitting on the toilet seat instead. My palms were white and I was thin with bones protruding everywhere. In as much as dying scared me I was not ready to come clean and risk going to jail. The ex-boyfriend had also made it clear that his name was never to be mentioned in any of this.

There was also pretending like everything was alright to my mother which was a job and a half since I wouldn’t stop bleeding. The house was in chaos and smelled of sickness. I could barely stand to clean it. My mother was suspicious from the second she walked in so it didn’t come as a surprise when she came into my bedroom holding out the pregnancy test. It had been in the plastic bags we kept used pads.

“Tatenda Mtisi, please explain this to me,” she ordered, her nostrils flaring in anger. I stared at her in silence until she swore under her breath and said “Well, things are about to get very bad for you. Pack your things.”

I felt a different kind of sick settle in my stomach.

She knew Simbarashe, I had introduced them, so she called him unleashed her wrath on him and then told him to come collect his wife. My life felt like it was slipping right through my fingers, in those days I stopped living, I was just being. It is faint in my mind, but I remember my mother dragging me and my bags out of the house, I remember seeing Simbarashe for the first time since he abandoned me. It had been days but he already looked different to me. He wouldn’t look me in the eye and I was to find out when we got to his home in Chitungwiza that he had a girlfriend his family knew and approved of who was not me so being with his family was even more difficult.

On seeing me, his parents volunteered to take me to have my womb cleaned but they made it clear I was not welcome. After I recovered and was regaining my health I started visiting my mother often to beg her to take me back. It was difficult to get my mother to come around but after a month of groveling she reluctantly took me back. We are still learning how to trust each other again, my mother and I. Some days are harder, some days it is like nothing ever happened.

I feel that I am no longer the girl I was before I had the abortion and I am not even trying to be. My mother says things like that do that to you. I don’t regret aborting the baby, I couldn’t offer it anything, the father didn’t even want to be with me. I feel that even though it was done in a dangerous way I owned my body and made decisions over it. I wish though there was a way women could abort without running the risk of losing their lives. How many people have to die before the law allows women to have abortions? Is it better that women are dying and going through unimaginable pains aborting illegally than giving women the protection and freedom they need? Shouldn’t be women given the power to decide when it comes to their bodies?

Story written by Kudzai Parutu, SA Activist, University of Zimbabwe

*names changed for the person’s protection.

Sexual Gender-Based Violence

SASA!Project against Sexual Gender-Based Violence

A cause is always fruitful if all ages are involved and SASA seeks to include every woman in the society to fight against GBV.

Katswe in partnership with UN WOMEN has designed interventions of the SASA! Project to reduce gender-based violence through support for communities to effectively scale up prevention efforts in order to tackle social norms that fuel GBV as well as to ensure the provision of care and support services for survivors of GBV.

The SASA! Project carried out in Mbire located Lower District Guruve. The area is located in a deep valley around 4 hours away from Harare. The rough terrain makes it a hard to reach the area in which there are few schools and barely any clinics. Gender-Based Violence is prominent in this area making women the victims of what has been deemed as economic violence, emotional violence and rape.

The Mbire project has helped a lot in involving young girls through engagement activities that improve their writing skills through peer education. These help in boosting their confidence and communication skills. This empowerment aids to the fight against gender based violence.

Sex Worker's Rights

Sex Workers’ Rights

As part of Katswe Sistahood’s work on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights lobby and advocacy, the sex work campaign is one of the organisation’s most critical campaigns. The campaign is aimed at building and strengthening a movement of sex workers who can articulate their sexual rights and keeps them abreast with trends relating to their well-being.

The campaign intends to latch onto the ongoing debate on decriminalisation of sex work. It notes that sex work is work, and emphasises the need for legislation and policies in the country to protect sex workers from violations by their clients and society as a whole.

Revenge Pornography

Protect our Privacy

The campaign is driven by Zimbabwe’s growing trend in the distribution of sexually explicit images and film footage taken in private. The images are usually distributed either online (on social media applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook) or on popular tabloid newspapers, The B and H-Metro. This is usually done to humiliate, intimidate, dehumanise and degrade. While victims of revenge porn can be either male or female, women are the most affected by it.

The absence of a criminal law protecting the privacy of private communications involving sexual expression from publication without a subject’s consent makes it difficult for women to seek recourse, as they fear stigmatisation and being prosecuted themselves. This campaign seeks to criminalise distribution of intimate images taken in private through lobby, a media campaign and raising awareness on the rights to privacy and dignity.

Safe Abortion

Unwanted Pregnancies

Access to SRHR information and services remains a challenge for many young Zimbabweans. This fuels unwanted and teenage pregnancies; and eventually unsafe abortions. According to the Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (2015), the unmet need for Family Planning among adolescent girls was 12.6%. Zimbabwe committed to reduce it to 8.5% by 2020.

The campaign aim is to demystify abortion, challenge stereotypes and the dominant discourse around abortion that interprets abortion as an escape from punishment for unsanctioned sexual acts. The campaign challenges law makers to ensure full liberalization of abortion laws so that women can gain full control over their bodies and sexuality. It further challenges government to tackle procedural barriers to contraceptive access by unmarried young women and girls.

The government should also implement existing laws without prejudice; unsure unfettered access where abortion is legal according to the Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1977; i.e. where the pregnancy is as a result of rape or incest, or if the mother’s health is under threat as a result of the pregnancy.

Happy Flow

Happy Flow Campaign

Limited access to sanitary wear negatively impacts girls’ lives as it hinders the education of young girls. It is the norm in Zimbabwe for girls to miss school when they are menstruating due to the lack of sanitary pads. But a new gender-responsive approach to budgeting could change this. A gender responsive budget is sensitive to the distinctive needs of men and women, while allocating and spending public funds. This approach will ensure that gender inequalities in all facets of society are addressed which will result in bridging the development gap between men and women.

Although girls and women sometimes find resourceful ways to improvise sanitary pads, some of the materials they use offer limited absorbency, making it challenging for girls to participate in school. Sometimes young women and girls are forced to use rags, newspapers and cow dung; and these may pose health risks like vaginal infections.

Date Rape

Rape is a heinous crime

Campaign on Ending Date Rape and Securing Justice for Survivors

A few weeks ago, a young woman walked into our office looking for help. She had been drugged and raped on a date, and had contracted an STI. She was also pregnant. This young woman, is one of the many victims of date rape who have joined our Pachoto safe spaces for support. Date Rape is rape in which there has been some sort of romantic or a potential romantic relationship between the two parties.  Date rape often occurs when seduction fails and the offender proceeds without consent. Offenders often go unpunished because victims might justify their actions using their relationship status, i.e. boyfriend or lover.

Date Rape fuels HIV, Teenage Pregnancies, Child and Forced Marriage

The National AIDS council reports that the HIV prevalence rate among girls aged between 15-24 is 3-4 times higher than in their male counterparts. This alarming trend can clearly be attributed to date rape, as rapists will often not use condoms. Apart from HIV, Date rape is a major driver of teenage pregnancies and when girls get pregnant, they are expected to elope, and marry the person responsible. According to a Girls Not Brides report on Zimbabwe, 1 in 3 girls are married before their 18th birthday. In many cases, families do not realise that they are marrying off their daughter to former boyfriends turned rapists.