Stirring conversations around abortion in Zimbabwe is like spitting on a holy shrine, a curse that no one wants to be associated with in society as it requires some appeasement of some sort, in this context imprisonment for women who abort. Katswe Sistahood on 28 September (being the international safe abortion day), broke the norm by having conversations with various stakeholders in civil society, health and the Church. The conversation which took place showed that there is need to quickly change how abortion is viewed. Particularly there is need to treat it as a health and development issue rather than morality.

The reality of abortion is the fact that, though backyard abortion is a crime, Zimbabwe records more than 70000 illegal abortions a year which in most cases is carried out using life threatening instruments. Since 1977, the law has always been partially legal, however in its partiality, the law has major gaps like not including mental health issues as well as economic capacity of women in taking care of children.

These gaps have not been fully explored and should be treated as a matter of urgency. In addition government should create spaces for women to say what they really want on the pregnancy termination act since issues of ovaries and the womb directly affects them and not law makers whom in most cases are men. Consequently, women have often faced the wrath of law when they abort yet they were really never given a chance to make their own choices and when given, the processes are either very long and tiring and or extremely expensive.

With limited choices, stigma, labelling and poor access to health services, women have shied away from openly talking about abortion, in most instances is always the case of, “I heard someone saying … never the cases of I did his “. Against this back ground, these stories become like tales as they would have come from grapevine and not lived realities, hence efforts to sanitise, legitimise and normalise abortion become utopian and less pensive.

In this light, psychosocial support becomes a very instrumental tool that needs full attention and funding to make the abortion process more solid without any perks. With women fully empowered and given a chance to make choices, health services are not only improved but children are not brought in by chance rather by choice.
Therefore, one might say, the debt that the law of Zimbabwe has owed women on sexual reproductive health rights is long overdue. It is high time the government of Zimbabwe not only revisits the law, but add elements which speak to what women really want. At the end of the day women really want to live, implying that the health services in re and most abortion care should be accessible, affordable and accessible to the needs of women.