Botswana records 7,512 teen pregnancies under a decade
Larona Makhaiza | Tuesday March 26, 2024 06:00
This was revealed this week by Health minister, Dr Edwin Dikoloti when responding to a question from Mahalapye West MP, David Tshere, who had asked about the status of early unintended pregnancies amongst girls under the age of 18. Tshere also wanted to know how many of them had abortions in the past 10 years.
“There were 7,512 teenage pregnancies for the past nine years. Data for 2014 had gaps and could not be used in this response,” the minister said, citing records from 2015. Although abortion is illegal in Botswana and only allowed under certain instances, Dikoloti revealed that from 2013–2023, both Princess Marina and Nyangabgwe Hospitals performed abortions.
“I have, however, gotten some information from Nyangabgwe and Princess Marina Hospitals that there was a total of 150 terminations of pregnancy that were performed for medical reasons amongst ages 12–18 years in these two hospitals,” he added. Dikoloti highlighted that though abortion is illegal in the country, Batswana should bear in mind that it is only restricted to certain instances, which include rape.
“Most of the reasons for terminations were incest, defilement and rape,” he revealed. “For the right indications, termination of pregnancy is legally permitted in Botswana up to 16 weeks and it is also allowed if the pregnancy puts the health of the mother at risk or if the foetus carries abnormalities.” However, the minister said there have been cases of illegal and unsafe abortions from 2015–2023.
“There are cases that may be associated with any other indication including those that may have been induced by non-medical people and there were 167 recorded of them.” Though induced abortion seems to be on the rise, he stated that government has no plans to amend laws, but rather it will continue sensitising people on the use of contraceptives and abstinence.