Health minister Kapembwa Simbao says 30 percent of maternal mortality deaths in the country are due to unsafe abortions.
Mr. Simbao says it is in this regard that particular emphasis has been placed on reducing unsafe abortions.
He says government has since introduced several measures and integrated interventions aimed at improving pregnancy outcomes for women in Zambia.
He was speaking in Lusaka today in a speech read on his behalf by his deputy Akandelwa Mwendoi, at the launch by IPAS of the standards and abortions guidelines for reducing unsafe abortion morbidity and mortality in Zambia.
And IPAS Alliance Vice President Dr Brook Amissah said unsafe abortions constitute up to 40 percent of the maternal mortality in Africa.
Dr Amissah attributed this to lack of access to comprehensive reproductive health care and unmet needs for contraceptives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that every year approximately 66,500 women die globally from complications of unsafe abortions and about 40,000 or half of these deaths occur in Africa.
ZANIS
Why abort mwe bantu
# 1 you are right, Y aborting mwe bantu, I thought abortion is murder somehow which is prohibited in the Bible.
Abortion is a right and it is commendable that govt has made this move. People need to be able to make these choices without risking their lives. In some cases abortion is absolutely necessary e.g medical complications that endanger the life of the mother, or a case of rape that results in pregnancy etc. It is only a sin to us who follow certain belief systems such as Christianity but to some others it is just a plain right that needs to be upheld with no justification necessary.
I don’t see why Zambia should condone abortion when we declared the nation a christian nation. There shouldn’t even be talk about unsafe or safe abortion in our country. Abortion is murder period! According to science and the bible, a baby becomes a living soul right at conception when the very first cell is made. In Ecclesiastes God says that ” Before i made you in the womb i know you…” so this simply means a minute after conception that baby already has a personality just like us, that is known to God the almighty. The bible also talks about how if you cause the death of an unborn child you deserve to be put to death too! Coz that baby is as good as me and you.Lets not condone some of these things for the sake of the thinks we call “RIGHTS OF A WOMAN” What about the rights of…
CONTD… what about the rights of the baby?
I guess these comments are from fellow me.I believe that most women do not wish to abort for the sake of it.There are various reasons as many as there are different individuals in life.
Safe abortion should be legally introduced with professional advise on its pros and cons including couselling.Outright condermination is certainly not the answer.Like it or not,people will approach untrained and dangerous peolpe to perform this operation if left in the under world and Illegal.
We must also acknowledge that not all believe in the existence of God.We can not impose our beliefs onto others.
This is a hot topic in the West, where most of the pro-abortionists say it is not yet a human being. Beware of Western culture creeping in. Those whi fear God chose to respect life and avoid killing babies in the womb. Those who chose not to fear God have no limit to what they can do. To them all things are permissible.
Zambians, please gurad your rich culture jealously, or else you’ll soon start having gay marriages.
Makweti.
You are right not all believe that God exist,but the Bible has said it in psalms that only a full says there is no God.1 to 4 I wish we had many pipo like you in this world.
#6, this why in my view the declaration of our country as christian nation was completely unnecessary. Meanwhile, I believe health workers (&teachers) are on strike right now but I haven’t heard any leader addressing this serious issue so far. Can someone enlighten me if I missed something.
iwe chi Simbao ,do you know why “most” pipo abort? POVERTY makes them do that.so before you start “mopping the floor,better close the tap first”.and also learn to prioritise issues,first work on health workers’ conditions b4 bla bla bla on abortions OK?
If someone impregnates a huule accidentally and then she aborts coz she doesnt know who did it,who is to blame?
The 1972 pregnancy act , legalizes abortion in Zambia. Can we talk/debate about the the issue more . It is very much legal to terminate pregnancy before the age of viability that is 24 weeks .Better still first trimester .,I do not support abortion though yet it is medically and legally approved.
Perhaps by virtue of having a wife who is a Gynecologist/Obstetrician. A good lady she is indeed.Hon Simbao has the know how.
I have a solution, do not have sex in the first place. Marry first then make love, infact if you cannot afford to take care of yourself nor your woman; keep your issues hidden, and let us have less of this heart disturbing stories to read. Infact some people should not even get married Mu vutilamo Bana na ba chibululu.
#15 Make love than marry.. Its the culture… the revolution baby..
gone are the days when people used to think that abortion was murder….women have a right to chose whether to keep a baby or not….Bad as these unsubstatiated statistics seem, it is imperative to put in place measure that will ensure that women have elective abortions that are safe…thats just my opinion!
I love that rich christians who have never been raped, have the money to entertain themselves other than having sex and live in the ‘morally degraded’ West get to decide what some poor woman in Zambia compound gets to do with her own body!
The fact is that abortion is immoral in all senses though the ‘Act of man’ can be deemed ilicit and lawfull or ilicit and unlawfull depending on ones mind set, culture/tradition and society. What is important is whether we are solving the root cause (Poverty) or escalating the problem by simply dealing with symptoms of an ice burge. The truth is that this programme is donor driven and funded. What if the programme comes to unend or donors abruptly withdraw as has been our current experience recently. The answer can only drive from programmes on poverty eradication and women emancipation.
This simply says one thing: “we are living in the last days”! This is what the bible talks about, in the last days people will be like sheep without a Shepherd. This mentality of ” Gone are the days when ..bla bla bla” or ” we are living in the new era..yada yada “is what we should watch out for. Morality and sin has never changed people, don’t be fooled by these western cultures. God is the same and he has never changed, so who are we to change the rules of humanity to please ourselves. Zambia was declared a christian nation so we need to abide by the values of Christianity whether you like it or not. Smoking weed is illegal in Zambia but people still want to smoke, that doesn’t make it legal! So abortion which is murder should not be legalized whether you’ve been to the States…