Tshireletso wanted to know the number of registered cases that have come before the courts since 2000 for offences of infanticide, attempted infanticide, concealment of birth and procuring abortion. In his response, justice minister, Phandu Skelemani was quick to point out that the 128 cases registered in the specified period did not warrant the revision of the law prohibiting abortion. It is unfortunate that Tshireletso, though her efforts were commendable, did not table the issue as a motion. Notwithstanding the statistics as enumerated by Skelemani, we nevertheless feel this issue is bigger than it appears to be. Mma-Tshireletso therefore should have probably led to the formulation of an abortion bill. The 1991 Penal Code Amendment Act partially permitted abortion under extenuating circumstances such as rape, incest, defilement or when the health of the mother or the baby was at risk. That amendment makes it clear that such an operation should be carried out within 16 weeks of conception. However, even those minimal reforms elicited emotional debate across the country. Traditionalists and churches, particularly the Roman Catholic and Pentecostal fundamentalist churches were strongly against the reforms. As we have pointed out, the issue is much bigger than what is reflected in statistics. The reality is that many cases of back street abortions, use of private medical establishments and traditional doctors are never reported. Some well-heeled members of the society just cross over to South Africa for such services. Obviously then it is the poor who are exposed to risky methods of abortion. Besides, this is basically a human rights issue. The law should recognise a woman's right to choose where to give birth. Even as we respect the right of the individual woman to determine her personal destiny, we must also respect what appears to be the overriding responsibility of the larger society to protect its citizens against risky abortions, even if it is that of an undeveloped foetus.
The reasonable position is to balance the right of freedom of choice of the individual against society's right to protect life in all its forms. This is not an easy task as we have witnessed in the early 1990s. We call on the government, civil society groupings and the responsible citizenry of Botswana to expose the question of abortion and debate it thoroughly so that an informed position could be taken. Abortion takes place in our society and we cannot turn blind eye to it. Time to debate this issue now.
