Shaping the abortion policy – competing discourses on the Zambian termination of pregnancy act

Abstract

IntroductionThe Zambian Termination of Pregnancy Act permits abortion on socio-economic grounds, but access to safe abortion services is limited and this constitutes a considerable problem for rights to sexual and reproductive health. The case of Zambia provides an opportunity to explore the relationship between a legal framework that permits abortion on diverse grounds, the moral and political disputes around abortion and access to sexual and reproductive health services.MethodsThis paper draws upon eleven months of ethnographic fieldwork in Zambia. The fieldwork included 28 open-ended interviews with key stakeholders as well as the collection of archival material related to the origins of Zambia’s legal framework for abortion. The archival material and the interview data were analyzed thematically, using theoretical perspectives on discourse and the anthropology of policies.ResultsThe study findings show that the Zambian case is not easily placed into standard categories of liberal or restrictive abortion laws. The archival material reveals that restrictive elements were in focus when the Zambian Termination of Pregnancy Act was passed (1972). The restrictive aspects of the law were emphasized further when Zambia was later declared as a Christian nation. Some of these restrictive elements are still readily recognized in today’s abortion debate. Currently there are multiple opinions on whether Zambian abortion policy is liberal, restrictive or neither. The law emerges as ambiguous, and this ambiguity is actively used by both those working to increase access to safe and legal abortion services, and those who work to limit such access. Coupled with a lack of knowledge about the law, its ambiguity may work to reduce access to safe abortion services on the grounds permitted by the law.ConclusionsWe argue that the Zambian Termination of Pregnancy Act is ambiguous and leaves much room for interpretation. This paper challenges the notion that the Zambian abortion law is liberal and opens up for further discussion on the relationship between how a law is described and perceived by the public, and the rights to health and services ensured by it.

Association between socioeconomic status and fertility among adolescents aged 15 to 19: An analysis of the 2013/2014 Zambia Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS)

“…However, abortion information is usually underreported [43][44][45]. Literature suggests that abortion rates are higher than this for adolescents but the incidence in Zambia is still unknown, and it is mostly estimated from facility-based post-abortion care information, or from selected facilities that have support for the provision of abortion care services [46].…”

Reproductive health and the politics of abortion

“…In their case study from Zambia Shaping the abortion policy -Competing discourses on the Zambian Termination of Pregnancy Act [11], Haaland and colleagues challenge the prevailing notion that the Zambian abortion law is liberal. Based on archival and ethnographic material the paper explores the relationship between a legal framework, the moral and political disputes surrounding abortion in this self-proclaimed Christian nation, and access to sexual and reproductive health services.…”

Adolescent fertility in Zambia- a critical discourse analysis of adolescent fertility control from a postcolonial perspective

“…Several contextual factors such as traditional marital norms and Christian-religious values-particularly in Zambia, a nation constitutionally declared Christian, play a restrictive role in shaping adolescent fertility control and ordinarily opposing the global health view of fertility control which is rights-based, regardless of the user [12,13]. The two divergent views: the Christian-religious and human rights-based moralities arouse heated discussions relating to SRH services [14], despite both being external to the local context and by-products of modernity and globalization [15].…”