Malawi delays revision of post-abortion care guidelines
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Mwnation
The Malawian government has not published its revised national post-abortion care guidelines more than six months after the High Court deadline. Attorney General Frank Mbeta says a consultant is continuing his work and a validation meeting is expected soon, while experts denounce a lack of transparency, according to Mwnation.
The Malawian government has still not published its revised national clinical guidelines on post-abortion care, more than six months after the deadline set by the High Court expired. Attorney General Frank Mbeta said on Thursday 22 October that a consultant was continuing his work and that a validation meeting was due to be held soon, Mwnation reports.
The 180-day deadline imposed by the High Court expired on 26 April. The ruling, issued after an appeal by a 16-year-old girl, found that Malawi’s legal framework allows pregnant minors who have become pregnant as a result of sexual violence to access a safe abortion, and ordered the national guidelines to be adapted.
Sexual and reproductive rights specialist Godfrey Kangaude, who is also a commissioner of the Malawi Human Rights Commission, accused the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of providing inadequate and politicised communication. The girl also initiated preliminary contempt-of-court proceedings against the Minister of Health and the ministry’s principal secretary on 16 July, through the Mlauzi Legal Solutions law firm.
