Several communities in the Khomas region have chosen against abortion law reform in the final public hearings on the topic, which took place in Windhoek over the weekend.
The meetings were held to seek public consensus on the three petitions received by the National Assembly on whether to legalise abortion on demand in Namibia.
Three petitions where submitted to the National Assembly in 2020, calling for the reform of the Abortion and Sterilisation Act No 2 of 1975.
Under this law, abortion in Namibia is illegal, except in cases where it is necessary to preserve the life or physical or mental health of the mother, or in the case of rape and incest.
The law also requires that abortions are performed only by authorised medical personnel at approved medical facilities.
It futher makes it illegal to advertise abortion services or to aid and abet an illegal abortion.
At the Katutura East and Katutura public meeting, community member Maria-Rosa Jonga proposed that Namibia should follow the United States’ anti-abortion stance.
“Have we considered the bigger picture that America will grow its population if it scraps it?” she asked.
She believes Namibia’s current laws are addressing the matter sufficiently.
Brigitte Zaire said: “We are very disheartened by the fact that Germans came to kill our people. How then are we sitting here and advocating for more killings?”
Former nurse-turned-pastor Selma Christof questioned why Namibians should dance to the tune of Western countries.
She said abortion psychologically affects women.
“I was a nurse, and I know what those people go through. Emotional and psychological consequences are always there. Let us fight for the things that will uplift our nation, such as poverty and sanitation,” she said.
Other attendants said financial preparedness and poverty are not reasons to demand abortion.
They said those who consent to sexual activities should bear the consequences of their actions.
Pro-choice activist Rosalia Hipondika demanded that the current law be reformed, which she said is restrictive.
“The current law is very draining and long. It must be reformed so that abortion is accessible to everyone who does not want a child. People who are not ready to have kids must have the right to decide on their own bodies,” she said.
At the Khomasdal constituency’s public hearing, pro-choice advocate Omar van Reenen said women are not equal before the law.
He said the 1975 act was imposed on Namibians and should be repelled.
“It is a law that was pushed on us and inherited from the apartheid South African regime,” he said.
Similar public hearings were held in the country’s 13 other regions.
Gotthard Kasuto, the head of the parliamentary standing committee on gender equality, social development and family affairs, which is spearheading the debates, said a report on the views of the public will be compiled and presented to the parliament later this year.
He encouraged those who could not attend the public hearings to submit their views to the office of the National Assembly’s deputy director of committee services, Maria Mombola.
No deadline was given.
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