Abortion in Tanzania

Despite the illegality of abortion in Tanzania, clandestine abortion services are often accessible to those who can afford them, especially in urban areas such as Dar es Salaam.^[5] Abortion-related prosecutions are not unheard of, but are rare.^[6] In 2013, it is estimated that there were 405,000 induced abortions in Tanzania.^[7]

As of 2017, the total fertility rate in Tanzania was 5.0 percent and contraceptive use stood at around 25 percent.^[5] As of 2010, 26 percent of births in the country were from unintended pregnancies.^[7]

According to statistics from Tanzanian hospitals, there are 36 induced abortions per 1000 women. Self-induced abortions in Tanzania have reportedly involved the insertion of sharp objects into the uterus, high doses of anti-microbial drugs, detergents, concentrated teas, cassava stems, or wood ashes.^[6] Some women later experience infections, bleeding, complications during their later pregnancies, or death. Studies have suggested that nearly 60% of women who are admitted to hospitals for miscarriages have actually undergone abortions.^[8]

Tanzania has one of the highest rates of maternal death in the world. The maternal mortality ratio was 398 per 100,000 live births in 2017.^[5] Due to fears of prosecution, women seek to procure abortions clandestinely, often in conditions that are unsafe.^[7] Unsafe abortions are estimated to be the second leading cause of maternal death in Tanzania.^[1] A 2012 study by the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences found that one in three women who had abortions between the ages of 15 and 24 had the procedure done by a non-professional.^[8] As of 2014, complications from abortions were responsible for around 16% of maternal deaths.^[1]

The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare started a training program for post-abortion care in 2000. The ministry has also made efforts to address maternal death through its initiative, the National Road Map Strategic Plan to Accelerate Reduction of Maternal, Newborn and Child Deaths.^[7]

In 2007, the Tanzanian Food and Drugs Authority approved the medication misoprostol as a treatment for postpartum bleeding.^[6] The medication was further approved for treating incomplete abortions in 2011.^[5] While misoprostol is not approved for use as an abortifacient in Tanzania, it is commonly used to induce medical abortions. These usually occur outside of medical facilities and without medical supervision.^[6]

Politically and culturally, the people of Tanzania are largely anti-abortion. As of 2018, the majority of the population practices Christianity (60%) or Islam (35%). Public discourse in the country tends to frame abortion as a moral transgression or sin.^[5]

A bill for a Safe Motherhood Act was introduced in the National Assembly in 2012. The bill proposed to align the country's laws with the Maputo Protocol by expanding abortion access to pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, where continuing the pregnancy would pose a substantial risk of the fetus having mental or physical abnormalities, or where a woman's mental or physical health would be threatened. The bill failed to pass.^[5] During the mid-2010s Constitutional review process, the Women and the Constitution Coalition, a coalition of 50 Tanzanian women's rights groups, lobbied for the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Constitution.^[1]

Efforts to liberalize the country's abortion laws have been supported by the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA), the East African Community, Care International, and the White Ribbon Alliance.^[5] The organization Pro-Life Tanzania, operating under the auspices of the Catholic Church, was established in 1994. It receives funding from the U.S.-based Human Life International and actively counters initiatives that would allow for more permissive abortion policies in the country.^[1]