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The civic society said the statistics showed that women were resorting to backyard abortion because they were being denied the right to abort.

They said denying the women the right to abort infringed on the rights of women as enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which was ratified by the Government of Zimbabwe in 1991.

Members of the civic society said the number of deaths could be drastically reduced by legalising abortion.
In a report presented to the CEDAW ommittee, organisations urged the Government to allow women access to quality services for the management of complications arising from unsafe abortions to reduce women’s maternal mortality rate.

They also advocated for the reviewing of the law relating to abortion for unwanted pregnancies with a view to removing punitive provisions imposed on women who undergo abortion.

In an interview with a representative from one of the organisations, Musasa Projects, the organisation’s regional manager Ms Lindile Ndebele said legalising abortion was going to empower women.

“It is illegal to abort in Zimbabwe unless sanctioned for special circumstances and this we feel infringes on the rights of women. Many women are dying out there from complications arising following backyard abortions,” said Ms Ndebele.

She said what made the situation worse was that it was even cumbersome to have the sanctioned abortion for special circumstances forcing women to opt for backyard abortion.

“Rape victims end up giving birth to unwanted babies because of the cumbersome process to have the abortion sanctioned.

“They are left to deal with the trauma of rape and live to see the products of rape grow in their wombs,” she said.
Ms Ndebele said denying women the right to abort was denying them their human rights.

Asked to comment, the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr Henry Madzorera, said rights were relative.

“First of all, I cannot qualify the mentioned statistics because I am not so sure if those are a reality.

“The fact that abortion is illegal means it is not a right for women to abort,” said Dr  Madzorera.
He however said women were allowed to abort under very special circumstances such as when raped or when the pregnancy is a danger to the mother and the unborn child.