United Republic of Tanzania
Grounds on which abortion is permitted:
To save the life of the woman Yes
To preserve physical health Yes
To preserve mental health Yes
Rape or incest No
Foetal impairment No
Economic or social reasons No
Available on request No
Additional requirements:
Two physicians must certify that the abortion is necessary in order to preserve the life of the pregnant woman.
Government view on fertility level: Too high
Government intervention concerning fertility level: To lower
Government policy on contraceptive use: Direct support provided
Percentage of currently married women using
modern contraception (aged 15-49, 1996): 13
Total fertility rate (1995-2000): 5.5
Age-specific fertility rate (per 1,000 women aged 15-19, 1995-2000): 125
Government has expressed particular concern about:
Morbidity and mortality resulting from induced abortion ..
Complications of childbearing and childbirth Yes
Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births, 1990):
National 770
Eastern Africa 1 060
Female life expectancy at birth (1995-2000): 49.1
BACKGROUND
Abortion legislation in the United Republic of Tanzania is based on the English Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act of 1929. Under the Revised Penal Code of Tanzania (chapter 16, sections 150-152) the performance of abortions is generally prohibited. Any person who, with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman, whether she is pregnant or not, unlawfully uses any means upon her is subject to 14 years’ imprisonment. A pregnant woman who undertakes the same act with respect to her own pregnancy or permits it to be undertaken is subject to seven years’ imprisonment. Any person who supplies anything whatsoever knowing that it is intended to be unlawfully used to procure the miscarriage of a woman is subject to three years’ imprisonment.
Nonetheless, an abortion may be performed to save the life of a pregnant woman. Section 230 of the Code provides that a person is not criminally responsible for performing in good faith and with reasonable care and skill a surgical operation upon an unborn child for the preservation of the mother’s life if the performance of the operation is reasonable having regard to the patient’s state at the time, and to all the circumstances of the case. In addition, Section 219 of the Code provides that no person shall be guilty of the offence of causing by willful act a child to die before it has an independent existence from its mother if the act was carried out in good faith for the purpose of preserving the mother’s life.
Moreover, the United Republic of Tanzania, like a number of Commonwealth countries whose legal systems are based on English common law, follows the holding of the 1938 English Rex v. Bourne decision in determining whether an abortion performed for health reasons is lawful. In the Bourne decision, a physician was acquitted of the offence of performing an abortion in the case of a woman who had been raped. The court ruled that the abortion was lawful because it had been performed to prevent the woman from becoming “a physical and mental wreck”, thus setting a precedent for future abortion cases performed on the grounds of preserving the pregnant woman’s physical and mental health.
Although abortion is restricted by law, there is overwhelming evidence that it is widely practised in the country. The Government has expressed concern about the high incidence of illegal abortion because of its effect on maternal morbidity and mortality. Studies show that illegal abortion is one of the major causes of maternal mortality. A study conducted in the Southern Highlands in 1983 estimated that 17 per cent of maternal deaths were directly associated with abortion. Another study carried out in the Kilimanjaro region suggested that about 21 per cent of maternal deaths were related to abortion. In a study undertaken in 1987 at Muhimbili Medical Centre, the teaching hospital in Dar es Salaam, it was determined that in a random sample of 300 women admitted to the hospital for early pregnancy loss, 31 per cent had had an induced abortion.
With the adoption of a national population policy in 1992, the Government committed itself to dealing with the adverse consequences associated with high rates of population growth. Among the objectives of the Government’s population programmes were to promote the improvement of maternal and child health and welfare through the prevention of illness and premature death and to establish an appropriate information, education and communication programme that would encourage the provision and use of services related to family planning and responsible parenthood.
To meet the unmet demand for family planning services, estimated to be 30 per cent of married women in 1991, a programme was established to raise the contraceptive prevalence rate. The contraceptive prevalence
rate was estimated to be 13 per cent in 1996 for modern methods. The programme components included community-based distribution of contraceptives, family planning services in workplaces, male involvement in family planning and in-school and out-of-school family life education. The population growth rate has dropped in recent years, from 3.2 per cent for the period 1990-1995 to 2.3 per cent for 1995-2000. The population growth rate remains high, as does the current total fertility rate, estimated at 5.5 children per woman.
In the late 1990s, the cumulative impact of HIV/AIDS, the influx of Rwandan refugees, the burden of debt servicing and deteriorating socio-economic conditions resulted in a general deterioration of the sexual and reproductive health of women and adolescents. Illegal abortion and maternal mortality as a result of complications from abortion are reportedly on the rise.
Source: Population Policy Data Bank maintained by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. For additional sources, see list of references.
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