ADVERTISEMENT
  • Hausa Edition
  • Podcast
  • Conferences
  • LeVogue Magazine
  • Business News
  • Print Advert Rates
  • Online Advert Rates
  • Contact Us
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Leadership Newspapers
Read in Hausa
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
    • All
    • Athletics
    • Basketball
    • Boxing
    • Esports
    • Football
    • Olympics
    • Paralympics
    • Tennis

    Nigeria Seeks To Make History As First African Host Of Commonwealth Games

    I’m Fit To Shine In Scottish Premiership, Iheanacho Declares

    CHAN Eagles Star Ijoma Joins Bosnian Club On 3-year Deal

    Zenith Bank/NBBF Women’s Basketball League: First Bank Overcomes Bayelsa’s Challenge, Royal Aces Edge Air Warriors

  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
    • All
    • Athletics
    • Basketball
    • Boxing
    • Esports
    • Football
    • Olympics
    • Paralympics
    • Tennis

    Nigeria Seeks To Make History As First African Host Of Commonwealth Games

    I’m Fit To Shine In Scottish Premiership, Iheanacho Declares

    CHAN Eagles Star Ijoma Joins Bosnian Club On 3-year Deal

    Zenith Bank/NBBF Women’s Basketball League: First Bank Overcomes Bayelsa’s Challenge, Royal Aces Edge Air Warriors

  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Leadership Newspapers
No Result
View All Result

Zimbabwe Court Okays Abortion For Rape Victims, Minors

by Ruth Nwokwu
10 months ago
in News
Share on WhatsAppShare on FacebookShare on XTelegram

Zimbabwe’s High Court has ruled against a law prohibiting abortion services for women raped by their husbands and girls under the age of 18.

Advertisement

In his ruling handed down on November 22 and made public this week, Judge Maxwell Takuva said since Zimbabwe’s laws already criminalise marital rape and sex with a minor, victims should be allowed to abort if they become pregnant.

“There is no doubt that it is torture, cruel and degrading treatment for a child to carry another child, for a child to give birth to another child or for a child to be forced to illegally abort because of cruel circumstances,” Takuva said.

The government did not mount any opposition to the case, which was brought by a women’s rights group, although the ruling must still be approved by the Constitutional Court to become effective.

Takuva said providing access to safe and legal abortion services for underage girls “is significant in light of the massive instances of teenage pregnancies in Zimbabwe, and consequently illegal teen abortions and teenage mortalities.”

Related News

Celebrity Carpenter Finds Love After Single Fatherhood With 8 Children

4 minutes ago

All Federal Airports Fully Insured, Runways Under Overhaul — FAAN

32 minutes ago

The ruling is significant, given Zimbabwe’s restrictive abortion laws that often lead women and girls into illegal and unsafe backstreet abortions that in many cases turn fatal.

Abortion is allowed in very few circumstances in Zimbabwe, including such as if the pregnancy endangers the life of a woman, or if there is a risk of a physical or mental defect “of such a nature that (the child) will permanently be seriously handicapped.”

Women can also access legal abortion services in cases of unlawful sex such as incest.

Zimbabwe criminalised sex with any person below 18 in September, following an earlier constitutional court ruling ordering parliament to raise the legal age of consent for sex to 18 from 16.

However, the highly restrictive Termination of Pregnancy Act still denied abortion services for girls under 18.

The country of 15 million people records about 77,000 unsafe abortions annually, but many others go unreported. Many girls and women die from abortion complications each year, according to the United Nations Children’s agency, UNICEF.

Teen pregnancies are rife in the southern African country because of lax enforcement of laws, cultural and religious practices, and widespread poverty that also make it difficult for girls and women to access contraceptives and clinics.

Almost one of every four girls falls pregnant between the ages of 10 and 19, according to figures by the government and UNICEF.

One of every three girls is wedded before the age of 18 in the deeply conservative southern African country where girls are usually culturally forced to marry men responsible for their unplanned pregnancies.

 

Join Our WhatsApp Channel

Tags: CourtZimbabwe Court
SendShare10172Tweet6357Share

Other News Updates

Entertainment

Celebrity Carpenter Finds Love After Single Fatherhood With 8 Children

2025/09/17
Business

All Federal Airports Fully Insured, Runways Under Overhaul — FAAN

2025/09/17
Agriculture

Federal Government Unveils $3.14bn Agric Investment Scheme With FAO

2025/09/17
News

ICSAN Conference Advocates AI-Driven Integration In Governance Landscape

2025/09/17
News

Gombe, UNICEF Launch Enrolment Drive To Tackle Out-of-School Children Crisis

2025/09/17
News

Gombe Hosts Toxinological Society’s 2nd Scientific Conference, Deputy Governor Urges Indigenous Antivenom Production

2025/09/17
Leadership Conference advertisement

LATEST

Celebrity Carpenter Finds Love After Single Fatherhood With 8 Children

All Federal Airports Fully Insured, Runways Under Overhaul — FAAN

Rivers Crisis Would Have Defied Solution Without Tinubu’s Intervention — Tonye Cole

Federal Government Unveils $3.14bn Agric Investment Scheme With FAO

ICSAN Conference Advocates AI-Driven Integration In Governance Landscape

Nigeria Seeks To Make History As First African Host Of Commonwealth Games

Gombe, UNICEF Launch Enrolment Drive To Tackle Out-of-School Children Crisis

Gombe Hosts Toxinological Society’s 2nd Scientific Conference, Deputy Governor Urges Indigenous Antivenom Production

Gombe Govt Moves To Restore Damaged Infrastructure, Enhance Public Safety, Convenience

A Reflection On Governor Namadi’s Purposeful Leadership

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.