17 June 2025 by Monyane Khau

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At least 2,041 women and girls were admitted to various health facilities across Lesotho in 2023 due to complications from incomplete abortions.

This is according to the latest Health Statistics Report released by the Bureau of Statistics Lesotho, which reveals that out of 8,004 female admissions recorded in 2023, 25.5 percent were linked to incomplete abortion cases.

“The main cause of female adult admissions was due to incomplete abortion estimated at 25.5 percent,” reads the report.

Even more concerning is that, for the fourth consecutive year, the Health Statistics Report has identified complications from incomplete abortions as the leading cause of hospital admissions among women in Lesotho.

This is largely because abortion remains illegal in Lesotho under the Penal Code Act of 2010. The Act only allows abortion to be permitted in cases of rape, when the fetus is severely mentally disabled, or when the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life.

Have you read this: https://www.uncensored.org.za/incomplete-abortions-dominate-hospital-admissions-in-lesotho-2022-statistical-report/?

In a November 2015 article titled A Critique of Selective Abortion in Lesotho, Seeiso J. Koali argued that the clause in Lesotho’s Penal Code allowing selective abortion is logically inconsistent.

Koali explained that it “considers a fetus as a person but at the same time it allows the same person (fetus) to be killed if it poses harm to the mother’s life even if the person (fetus) is not abnormal.”

Koali further wrote: “It is argued that the fetus as a person in Lesotho Penal Code Act of 2010 is not treated equally with the born persons. The other controversial part regarding this Penal Code of Lesotho is that it does not stipulate the gestational period which allows abortion to be performed.”

Koali said this leaves a vacuum that abortion can be performed at any gestational period as long as it poses harm to the life of the mother or if the fetus is severely mental and physically disabled.

“Thus, it is concluded that all persons should be treated equally because they all possess moral status, and no persons should be discriminated because of their disability. In these cases, the right of a woman to exercise her autonomy and choose to terminate pregnancy overrides the right to life of a fetus.”