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An influential women's rights organisation, Women in Law in Southern Africa-Malawi (WILSA-Malawi), is suing the government of Malawi for preventing women from accessing safe abortion. Malawian law prohibits abortion - Section 149 ofthe country's penal code says any person who administers abortion shall be liable to imprisonment for 14 years, while Section 150 indicates that any woman who solicits abortion is liable to seven years imprisonment.
But WILSA-Malawi 's executive director, Seodi White, says these laws infringe on women's rights. She says they force women to seek back-street abortions from traditional healers and illegal clinics, thereby putting their lives in danger. "These laws do not make sense at all. They are contributing towards the death of so many women. We need to get rid of them as soon as possible," urged White.
Denying abortion rights is discrimination against women
Government statistics in Malawi indicate that up to 30 percent of maternal deaths in the country are due to unsafe abortion. Malawi's maternal mortality is one of the highest in Africa - second only to wartorn Sierra Leone. White says refusing women the right to abort is discrimination. "Access to legal and safe abortion services is essential to the protection of women's rights to non-discrimination and equality. Where women are compelled to continue unwanted pregnancies, it puts them at a disadvantage because abortion is a medical procedure that only women need."
White argues that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has implied that the denial of medical procedures that only women need is a form of discrimination against women. "Therefore, restrictive abortion laws may amount in certain cases to discrimination against women," she concluded.
WILSA-Malawi is also...