Human rights activist Rosa Namises calls on Namibians to reopen an honest, nationwide debate on abortion, adding that women continue to suffer under an outdated law that denies them control over their own bodies.
Her remarks follow the recent arrest of a 22-year-old woman at Walvis Bay for allegedly selling abortion tablets worth N$8 500.
This was confirmed by the Erongo police senior inspector Judith Shomongula, who says the woman was arrested last week at the Puma Service Station at Kuisebmund after a parcel containing 34 suspected abortion tablets was intercepted.
Shomongula says the suspect was charged under the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act 13 of 2003 and appeared before the Walvis Bay Magistrate’s Court.
The police warn the public to refrain from selling or purchasing unregulated substances, but activists argue that enforcement alone will not solve the deeper problem of a law that pushes women toward unsafe options.
According to Namises, women have long been denied the right to make decisions about their reproductive health, a struggle that dates back to before Namibia’s independence.
“For a very long time, even before independence, women wanted to have bodily autonomy,” she says. “We wanted to be able to address what happens to us when we are impregnated and we are not ready for the baby, or when we are raped.”
She says Namibia’s abortion law, inherited from apartheid South Africa, has failed to evolve with the realities women face today.
“Beautiful, strong women have died attempting to abort their babies. If abortion were allowed under proper conditions, we would not be losing so many women,” Namises says.
Under the current law, abortion is permitted only when a woman’s life is at risk, in cases of rape or incest, or if there is a severe foetal abnormality. Women who terminate pregnancies outside these conditions face prosecution.
Namises says this narrow framework ignores social realities such as poverty, lack of family support and emotional trauma.
Namises criticises the dominance of religious and male voices in shaping abortion policy and public opinion.
“The men don’t even understand what women are going through and, therefore, have no authority to speak about our bodies. Even when we talk about sanitary pads or menstruation, they interfere, yet they know nothing about it.
The same happens when they debate abortion,” she stresses.
She recalls how Namibia once faced a surge in baby dumping cases, where desperate women, often young and impoverished, were criminalised instead of supported.
“If abortion had been allowed under proper conditions, we would have saved many of those women from prison and from death,” Namises says.
Namises adds that abortion must be viewed as a public health issue, not a moral or religious debate.
“It is life-threatening when women do backyard abortions.
The substances they use are not always safe, it kills them. If we are given the opportunity to access safe services, we can save lives.”
She says research from other countries shows that legalising abortion does not increase the number of procedures but instead ensures women’s safety and dignity.
“In countries where abortion is legal, it’s not that every woman runs to abort, but when the need arises, it’s done safely. Namibia should learn from those examples,” she says.
Legal practitioner and human rights lawyer Norman Tjombe says these kind of incidents were not isolated, but rather symptoms of an outdated law that denies women control over their reproductive health.
“This only demonstrates that Namibia is urgently in need of a more responsible law reform of the abortion law,” Tjombe says.
He says: “It should allow for freedom of choice to women, which will then permit access to safe and reliable health care.
We cannot continue to have this outdated and horribly unconstitutional law remaining, whilst our women and children are killed or maimed due to unsafe abortions.”
