Ruling brings clarity to Malawi abortion law

Malawi’s law on abortion has come in from the shadows. Until now it has been a murky nightmare to unpack, both for those needing access to pregnancy terminations and for medics asked to perform the procedure. The law is complex, even appearing contradictory in places, and it seems to be applied differently in rural and urban areas. But, in her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, Carmel Rickard writes that a major new judgment has demystified the law, particularly as it affects girls pregnant as a result of rape. With his decision, Blantyre High Court judge Mike Tembo has left no room for doubt: he found it unlawful and unconstitutional to refuse an abortion to a girl in this situation. He also found that while the country’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) shared responsibility for training health professionals and others to ensure they understood and applied the law correctly, the HRC had not done so. His clear judgment on this issue will help ensure that under-age girls, pregnant after rape, and who request a termination, are no longer fobbed off by health officials who misunderstand what the law says.