As I understand it, this law proposed law seeks to address the need for access to safe abortions. The current law on the same is perceived by proponents of the new proposed bill to be contributing to injury and deaths of women who seek backstreet abortions. Firstly, let me say that any loss of life is regrettable. The high number of maternal deaths in this country should be a matter of concern to everyone. I wish to make a contribution to the discussion on abortion in general. I am also proposing a church response to those who fall pregnant.

PREGNANCY IS A CHOICE. WOMEN HAVE POWER TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE
Pregnancy is not a disease and is preventable. With exception to cases of rape, pregnancy should be a woman’s choice. Women and girls should not fall pregnant in the first place if they do not want babies. I believe that it is insulting women's intelligence to suggest they are helpless victims and that a favourable law needs to come to their rescue. They have power to choose. Where pregnancy occurs there is equally a better and safer choice to keep the baby until it is safely delivered.

THE SUPREME LAW IS PRO-LIFE
Laws are made usually to help people such as restraining people from acts that can bring harm to themselves and to others. Contrary to what some activists say, Section 243 doesn't force women to procure unsafe abortion. Chapter 4 Section 16 of the Constitution states: Every person has the right to life and no person shall be arbitrarily deprived of his or her life. Unborn babies have a right to life. The right of a mother to choose and exercise freedom over her body should not infringe on the right of an unborn baby. A pro-abortion law infringes on this supreme law.

ETHICAL ARGUMENT
Abortion is a moral issue. It is a standard principle of medical ethics that if there is any degree of uncertainty about life and death issues one must act in favor of life protection against destruction of life. The only exception is in when the physical life of the mother is threatened. A pro-abortion law puts health workers whose duty it is to protect life in an ethical dilemma in light of the Hippocratic Oath and the Nurses’ Pledge. To expect doctors and nurses to perform abortions having taken their professional oaths would render them unprofessional and hypocrites. Just because abortion is legal in some countries it doesn't make morally right.

ABORTIONS LEAVE PSYCHOLOGICAL SCARS
A BBC producer who was making a television documentary about abortion revealed that women were more honest than the doctors about the emotional implication of medical abortion. Many women experience guilt, self-hatred, depression, and some struggle to forgive themselves and other post abortive syndromes. Having an abortion is not like removing a pimple from your face. Just as it is important to avoid injury physically, it is equally important to prevent psychological injury which normally lasts longer than a physical injury.

OVERBURDENING HEALTH PERSONNEL AND RELATED COST FACTORS
Our health workers are inundated with more than what they can bear treating diseases. The nurse and midwife population ratio recently was 1:144000 in Malawi against the recommended 1:1000 by the WHO. Malawi has 144 times less and a 70 percent vacancy gap. The doctor population ratio is worse. Must the same overburdened health personnel "treat" more people who are not sick? There is the sure possibility of losing more lives with overstretching the already overburdened workers. Should government spend money on equipment and medications for something that is preventable?

THEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT OF THE SANCTITY OF LIFE
There is a clear plan and a purpose for every person from conception. This is supported by the following verses: Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” ; Luke 1:41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy spirit. Human development is not just an anonymous, deterministic, biological mechanism, a routine proliferation of cells. God is the creator of life. Human life is sacred. Life is a precious gift from Him (even in the case of rape, incest, fornication or adultery). The deliberate destruction of the human embryo is a grave sin and the human embryo is not disposable. Exodus 20:13 You shall not murder.

PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENT
As a former foetus I oppose abortion. What if I was an unwanted pregnancy and aborted? Ronald Reagan former President of the United States of America said: “I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.”

CONCLUSION
To the God fearing person both life giving and life taking are divine prerogatives. The power to terminate life does not belong to the expectant mother, the midwife, the doctor, the legislator, or even the president. It is God’s.

On another note the church needs to respond to the issue of those who fall pregnant outside wedlock. The church should treat such cases as needing church discipline and at the same time embrace them and not reject them. Discipline is necessary because they have behaved in a way contrary to Christian conduct. They must however be forgiven, accepted, loved and nurtured in such a way that they overcome the shame and stigma associated with their sin. The church should applaud those who having sinned have made the bold decision to keep the baby than to abort. The church should stand with them in prayer for safe delivery. The church should be willing to bless their children and not judge them. The church should where possible support the girls go back to school. Single mums should be treated with dignity. The church should where possible address the underlying causes of why women and girls choose an abortion. In such a way the church is known for things it is against but at the same time what it positively stands for.