Refrain from procuring wilful miscarriage: RPC

Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro regional police commander (RPC) Ramadhani Mungi has warned women with the habit of procuring abortion to stop the behaviour, saying the long arm of law would soon catch up with them. He reiterated that under Tnzanian laws, arbotion is illegal.

He gave the warning yesterday, when addressing reporters on a recent incident of a barmaid held allegedly for procuring an abortion.

He said whoever caught doing such an act would be arrested.

He revealed that the police were holding a barmaid in the municipality allegedly for procuring an abortion contrary to the law.

He said the incident occurred at about 7pm Monday in Soweto in the municipality.

Mr Mungi alleged that on February 8 this year, the suspect travelled to her home town in Arusha and when she reported back to her workplace, one of her colleagues suspected her to have procured abortion after noticing her pregnancy could no longer be seen.

“The woman applied for leave and travelled to Arusha and it is believed she went for an abortion at a dispensary in Majengo,” said the RPC.

Abortion is only permitted in Tanzania in exceptional circumstances such as to save the mother’s life to preserve physical health and/or to preserve mental health.

Under Section 150-152 of the Penal Code of Tanzania (Cap 16), it is prohibited to procure abortion. Section 150 states: “Any person who, with intent to procure miscarriage of a woman, whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind, or uses any other means whatever commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.”

Section 152 states: “A woman being with child, who with intent to procure her miscarriage own miscarriage unlawfully administers to herself any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind, or uses any other means whatsoever, or permits any such thing or means to be administered or applied to her, commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.”

Given legal restrictions associated with abortion, it is difficult to obtain reliable information on its prevalence and to assess the magnitude of the morbidity and mortality associated with it. No national abortion incidence data is available. However, estimates for Africa’s regions indicate that unsafe abortion is common and represents the majority of induced abortion.