Swaziland High Court judge calls for debate on legalising abortion

A High Court judge in the deeply conservative kingdom of Swaziland (eSwatini) has started a debate about legalising abortion.

Judge Qinisile Mabuza heard a case involving a 26-year-old woman who was accused of causing the death of her four-year-old son, by drowning him in a river.

The eSwatini Observer reported that the child’s father had denied paternity, leaving her to rise the child herself. This prompted the judge to question what provisions were available for women who found themselves in similar situations.

The Swazi Constitution provides that abortion might be allowed on medical or therapeutic grounds, including where a doctor certifies that continued pregnancy will endanger the life or constitute a serious threat to the physical health of the woman; continued pregnancy will constitute a serious threat to the mental health of the woman; there is serious risk that the child will suffer from physical or mental defect of such a nature that the child will be irreparably seriously handicapped. 

However, no law exists to put the constitutional provisions into effect. 

According to the Observer, ‘In her subsequent remarks, she [Judge Mabuza] hinted that she viewed the current situation as shackling women’s autonomy, making an undertaking to tackle the current ban on abortion before she retires from the bench.

‘In fact, the learned judge believes it would be reasonable to allow women to make a decision on whether to perform an abortion.’

The Observer reported, she added some of the rights of women had been addressed through the 2018 Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act and it was time that society explored the possibility of legalising abortion as well.

Later, a number of representatives from organisations within Swaziland supported the idea of a debate. Acting Director Bongani Msibi of the Family Life Association of Swaziland (FLAS), a leader in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights delivery and youth programming in Swaziland, said the illegality of abortion often posed serious risks to women, and that legalisation could help to protect their reproductive and health rights.

Acting Director Zanele Thabede of Women and the Law of Southern Africa (WLSA) said abortion law reform should be discussed. She told the Observer it was important to have meaningful conversations whatever your beliefs about abortion.

Head of the Human Rights  and  Integrity Commission Sabelo Masuku said the group was in support of the call by the judge to have Swaziland revisit its position on abortion.

Because abortions are illegal in Swaziland it is difficult to say accurately how many are performed in the kingdom. However, in August 2018 the Times of Swaziland reported that every month, nurses at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital in Manzini attended more than 100 cases of young women who had committed illegal abortions.

The IRIN news agency, quoting FLAS reported that in October 2012 more than 1,000 women were treated for abortion-related complications at a single clinic in Swaziland.

 

See also

Death of Swaziland schoolgirl after illegal abortion highlights suffering of women in kingdom

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/04/death-of-swaziland-schoolgirl-after.html

 

U.S. halts funding to Swaziland NGO as anti-abortion policy bites

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/08/us-halts-funding-to-swaziland-ngo-as.html

 

Swaziland college principal reveals role abortions play in lives of his students

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/swaziland-college-principal-reveals.html

Health expert warns Swaziland women might contract cancer from unregulated contraceptives

Women in Swaziland (eSwatini) are using unregulated family planning products that might cause cancer, a leading sexual health expert warned.

Bongani Msibi, Acting Executive Director of Family Life Association of Swaziland (FLAS), said unregulated products were available in the kingdom that often came without instructions for their safe use. The products were designed to prevent pregnancy.

Msibi told a parliamentary forum in Manzini misuse of the products increased the risk of cervical or breast cancer.

Msibi said the government provided regulated family planning products for free, but some people still used unregulated ones.

Women’s sexual health is a controversial topic in Swaziland where abortion is illegal but pills that purport to induce abortions are openly on sale. In February 2020 a woman was sentenced to 30 years in jail with the option of an E45,000 (US$2,700) fine for selling Cytotec pills which induced abortion.

Under the Swazi Constitution abortion is illegal in Swaziland except under strict circumstances, including where a mother’s life is in danger.

Because abortions are illegal in Swaziland it is difficult to say accurately how many are performed in the kingdom. However, in August 2018 the Times of Swaziland reported that every month, nurses at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital in Manzini attended more than 100 cases of young women who had committed illegal abortions.

The IRIN news agency, quoting the FLAS, reported that in October 2012 more than 1,000 women were treated for abortion-related complications at a single clinic in Swaziland. Many of the deaths were the result of haemorrhaging, while others resulted from the patient’s delay in seeking medical treatment for other complications stemming from illegal terminations.

In November 2012 the IRIN reported that 16 percent of all women deaths in the government hospital in Mbabane that year were the result of botched abortions. It said that this figure was only those cases that were reported, there were certainly other deaths unreported.

In December 2018 the Swazi Observer reported the number of illegal ‘backstreet’ abortions taking place in Swaziland was ‘escalating’ because social media had made it easier to obtain abortion pills.

See also

Death of Swaziland schoolgirl after illegal abortion highlights suffering of women in kingdom

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/04/death-of-swaziland-schoolgirl-after.html

 

U.S. halts funding to Swaziland NGO as anti-abortion policy bites

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/08/us-halts-funding-to-swaziland-ngo-as.html

Swaziland college principal reveals role abortions play in lives of his students

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/swaziland-college-principal-reveals.html

U.S. Halts Funding to Swaziland NGO as Anti-abortion Policy Bites

The Family Life Association of Swaziland / Ewsatini has lost a quarter of its total funding after the United States tightened up its policy against abortion.
 

A total of 56 jobs have been lost.

The halt in US funding worth the equivalent of E10.7 million is a direct result of an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on his first full day in office. He reinstated and extended what is known as the Mexico City Policy or Global Gag Rule which had first been put in place in 1984. 

Under the revised rule organisations receiving aid from the United States have to show they do not use their own non-United States’ funds to provide abortion services, counsel patients about the option of abortions, refer them for abortion or advocate for the liberalisation of abortion law.

Abortion is not legal in Swaziland, unless ordered by the courts. 

FLAS was opened in 1979. For almost the first two decades of operations its strategic focus was contraception and family planning services. On its website FLAS explains, ‘However, since 1999, FLAS has undergone a process of transformation that has seen its focus shift from family planning to comprehensive and holistic sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and HIV services and information. This was largely prompted by the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994. Given that more than half of Swaziland’s population is younger than 20 years of age, FLAS’s target population is now youths aged 10 to 24 years.

‘For over a decade FLAS’s core services have included counselling and treatment for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues, family planning including vasectomy and tubal ligations, male circumcision, pre- and post-natal care, immunisations and screenings including for cervical cancer, breast cancer and pregnancy tests.’

Maxwell Dlamini, FLAS Resource Mobilisation and Communications Office, told the Sunday Observer newspaper in Swaziland (5 August 2018) its E10.7 million funding from the United States had been halted and 56 jobs (26 staff and 30 community workers) were lost as a result. The Associated Press news agency had previously reported this was about one-quarter of FLAS’s total funding.

Dlamini told the Observer FLAS recognised that unsafe abortion was a major killer of women in Swaziland. FLAS came across several women each day with unwanted pregnancies, he said.

The Observer reported, ‘He added that its recognition as a health problem was essential as well as designing preventive measures for it.’

He said FLAS worked within the law in Swaziland.

Coordinating Assembly of Non- Governmental Organisations (CANGO) Communications Officer Nkosingiphile Myeni said many non-governmental organisations providing sexual and reproductive health services believed that the US policy did not reduce abortions but increased more unsafe and unhealthy ones, leading to more women’s deaths which could be averted.

See also

Kingdom’s Confused Law on Abortion

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/03/kingdoms-confused-law-on-abortions.html

KINGDOM’S CONFUSED LAW ON ABORTIONS

A 19-year-old woman in Swaziland was arrested by police in her hospital bed after being admitted for attempting an abortion.

The case highlights the difficulties women face in the kingdom where abortion is illegal in almost all circumstances. Performing, receiving or participating in an abortion carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. 

The teenager had used drugs in an attempt to induce an abortion, according to a report in the Swazi Observer newspaper on Friday (23 March 2018). She has since appeared in court where sentencing was postponed.

Because abortions are illegal in Swaziland it is difficult to say accurately how many are performed in the kingdom. In October 2012 more than 1,000 women were treated for abortion-related complications at a single clinic in the Swaziland’s second city Manzini, according to the Family Life Association of Swaziland (FLAS), a family planning organization.

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, abortion is prohibited in Swaziland except in cases of necessity but there is disagreement about what constitutes a case of necessity. 

‘The majority position of commentators is that a case of necessity exists only when an abortion is performed to save the life of the pregnant woman.  However, it is possible that a case of necessity need not be so serious and that an abortion could be performed in cases of serious threat to both physical and mental health, foetal defect and rape. There is no case law on this issue in Swaziland,’ the report stated.

The Swazi Constitution provides that abortion might be allowed on medical or therapeutic grounds, including where a doctor certifies that continued pregnancy will endanger the life or constitute a serious threat to the physical health of the woman; continued pregnancy will constitute a serious threat to the mental health of the woman; there is serious risk that the child will suffer from physical or mental defect of such a nature that the child will be irreparably seriously handicapped. 

However, no law exists to put the constitutional provisions into effect.

The UN report stated there were no legal provisions dealing with the professional qualifications required to perform an abortion, the place where the procedure must be performed or the period during pregnancy when an abortion can be performed. There is evidence that illegal abortions take place frequently in Swaziland. 

The UN stated, ‘Induced abortion is a particularly significant problem among teenage girls.  Faced with the prospect of an unwanted pregnancy, many teenage girls resort to abortion to avoid expulsion from school. Unmarried teenage women are more likely to have unwanted pregnancies because of the barriers they face in obtaining contraceptives. For example, it is reported that health workers often require proof of the husband’s authorization before dispersing contraceptives, even though this is not a legal requirement.’

In November 2012 the IRIN news agency reported that 16 percent of all women deaths in the government hospital in Mbabane that year were the result of botched abortions. It said that this figure was only those cases that were reported, there were certainly other deaths unreported.

IRIN reported that in 2011 three Swazi nurses were arrested and given 15 years for assisting in terminations. 

‘They were helping the poorest of the poor, women who are truly desperate and who cannot do what most Swazi women do who need an abortion. Most women just travel across the border to South Africa,’ Alicia Simelane, a Manzini healthcare worker and midwife, told IRIN. 

‘Also, there are the scared little girls, the rape survivors and the survivors of incest who dare not talk about their experiences to anyone. Counselling hardly exists for such girls in Swaziland. Then there are the women who have seven children and a husband who refuses to wear a condom, and they cannot bear to have more children. These are desperate women, and they will go to anyone who they think will help them,’ she said. 

In the absence of legal abortions, mothers are suspected of practising infanticide. Local media reports of new-borns found dead in isolated areas are commonplace. 

In 2017, the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva recommended that Swaziland adopt laws allowing voluntary abortions.

See also

WOMEN SILENCED ON ABORTIONS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2007/10/women-silenced-on-abortion.html

SWAZI CULTURE LETS WOMEN STARVE

The status of women in Swaziland is so low that they are practically starved at meal times, according to a report just out.

Women, who under traditional Swazi law are treated as children and are in effect owned by their husbands or fathers, are expected to live lives devoted to their men and families.

A report on the State of the Population in Swaziland says that Swazi women are responsible for childbirth, raising the children and taking care of the entire family.

The report conducted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA on behalf of the Swaziland Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, said, ‘Unfortunately, the status of women is so lower than that of men, that she will not eat until everyone has eaten.’

During meal times, the women waited for the men and the youth to eat before they did.

‘Eating last also means that her choice of food is limited,’ the report says.

‘Traditionally, she does not consume milk and its products at her marital home, unless she earns permission through the offer of liphakelo beast by her husband.’ This is when the husband gives the woman a cow for her own use.

I have written before about the depressingly poor status of women in Swaziland, here in no particular order are some recent examples of the way women are treated in Swaziland.

Women are expected to give their husbands sex on demand and those who refuse have been blamed for men who rape children.

During the 2008 Swazi national election, women who campaigned for women to be elected to the House of Assembly were branded ‘evil’ by chiefs.

In a survey 40 percent of men said it was all right to beat women.

Women are denied the right to dress as they please (e.g. wearing pants) by village elders, who then punish the women with fines.

One in three Swazi women has suffered some form of sexual abuse as a child, while one in four experienced physical violence. Often the abusers are the girls’ own fathers or boyfriends.

A 17-year-old woman (described as a ‘minor’) was convicted for committing abortion after her lover, a married man, impregnated her and told her to get rid of it. She represented herself in court and was sentenced to a prison term of two years or an E2 000 fine. The man was not charged.

A spokesperson for the Family Life Association of Swaziland (FLAS) writing in the Times of Swaziland about women who carry condoms said, ‘The greater section of the public thinks it is promiscuous and you will readily be labelled a whore’

A Times columnist writes that rapists were not necessarily beasts as society had labelled them. ‘Most of them were men who had tried to ignore their desires which were fuelled by “half naked women” until such time that it became too much to bear and they raped someone.’

The Times Sunday published an article by one of its regular columnists headlined ‘Sexual harassment: Come on we love it’ which says, ‘Most women just love what is termed sexual harassment, especially in the workplace.’ The article is accompanied by a cartoon of a man touching a woman on her breast.

A fellow ‘blogger’ Sikelela Dlamini has written about how Swaziland’s constitution discriminates against women whose children were born of marriage to non-Swazi males have had their children’s travel documents invalidated because they are not Swazi. Check out what he has to say here.