Zimbabwe court rules against law that denies abortion to marital rape victims and girls below 18

Associated Press

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A Zimbabwean High Court judge has ruled that provisions of a law that deny abortion services to women raped by their husbands and girls under the age of 18 are unconstitutional. The ruling is significant, given Zimbabwe’s restrictive abortion laws. In his ruling, Judge Maxwell Takuva ruled that because marital rape and sex with an underage girl are both unlawful, victims should be allowed to legally abort. Activists say restrictive abortion laws have been forcing women and girls into illegal and unsafe backstreet abortions that in many cases turn fatal. Almost one of every four girls in Zimbabwe falls pregnant between the ages of 10 and 19, according to figures by the government and the United Nations.