I am a journalist – I had already heard about CSJ News through their media work and was invited to one of their training courses. Before I attended the training, I had the misconception of believing that abortion is killing, that life starts with conception. At the training we learned more about the issues relating to abortion and the proposed Termination of Pregnancy Bill (TOP bill) in Malawi.
I learned that the law only allows for abortion when a woman’s life is in danger. But it doesn’t specify exactly when that would be. Does she need to be bleeding? What about the stress caused if she is pregnant because of rape? What about incest? Could she not also be at risk of losing her life due to the mental impact of these issues?
What I came to realise from the training was that safe abortion is about the rights of women and girls.
I came to understand that if a woman wants to have an abortion she will find a way. Here in Malawi, most will resort to backstreet abortions which endanger their lives.
In reading the information given to me by CSJ, I learned that abortions have been happening for a long time. Traditional birth attendants have always had ways of ending pregnancies. But now abortions are being done in the backstreet. Women and girls are using washing powder, inserting cassava stems and bicycle spokes, all sorts of dangerous methods. But I note that the same people who say that abortion is bad are getting their own girlfriends to hospitals to have their pregnancies terminated safely. After the training, I said no, these laws are negatively affecting the poorer masses – the people who don’t have an alternative.
In most cases, the women who use unsafe methods start bleeding heavily, some die.
Some are rushed back to the same hospitals that refused to give them the abortion in the first place.
They are cleaned up because post-abortion care is legal, but that process loses the government a lot of money. They could have given them the pills to end the pregnancy safely, but instead they end up spending money on trying to fix the complications caused by unsafe abortions. Abortion provided at the hospital may take five minutes and after 20 minutes she’s OK and she goes home. But now this woman who was denied a safe abortion is losing blood, she needs blood banks, and more treatment and drugs to help her. That money could be used for other health issues. We are spending a lot of money each year to clean up these women so where’s the logic?
Because we consider ourselves a God-fearing country, religion plays a central role.
Religious leaders will teach that abortion is a sin. They say this even when the woman has problems keeping a pregnancy or was raped, and some of these girls are being raped by their own fathers. How is this fair? Where in the Bible does it say that abortion is a sin?
These women must be given their rights, they should choose whether or not to keep the pregnancy, and abortions should be done in a safe way.
The current abortion law is not giving a chance to women. People are going to be penalised, even jailed. The constitution guarantees human rights, but are we not going against this if we victimize people who have had abortions? Making them resort to unsafe abortion which is a highway to death.
Girls and women are dying of abortion in Malawi – are we proud?
CSJ has been instrumental in removing myths propagated by us journalists.
Little by little, I believe people are changing. I was one of those who believed abortion was a sin. The moment someone talked about abortion I already had preconceptions about it. The stories we used to write, and even the language and images used were bad. You would find that most of the stories had a picture of a nine-month pregnant woman, yet this proposed law is talking about pregnancies only up to a few months. We have been guilty of painting an unrealistic picture of abortion.
The training we had from CSJ has helped us come up with the best stories on this issue. It has helped us to interview people in a confidential way, and use our investigative skills to find out about hidden issues pertaining to abortion. In the long-run I believe that as journalists we can help with the advocacy for introducing the TOP bill and in improving access to safe abortion for women.
We in the media have a right and a duty to convey the right messages – to policy makers but also to the public themselves.
Francis Tayanjah-Phiri – Journalist trained by CSJ News, a SAAF grantee partner in Malawi.