Jeremiah 1 verse 5 tells us, before I formed you, in the womb I knew you. This is just describing how sanctity is our life and the dignity of life, is what we are talking about now. The Catholic Church, under Pope Francis, has consistently opposed abortion, calling it homicide. Pope Francis said, abortion, I quote, is like hiring a hitman to eliminate human life. While the church extends mercy to women, it firmly teaches that life is sacred from the moment of conception. As Christians and as a nation under God, we cannot legislate laws that stand in opposition to our faith and beliefs.
Mr. President, the issue of morality, what kind of a society do we want to become? What kind of morality are we building? If we legalise abortion on demand, are we not setting a dangerous precedent that life is disposable when inconvenient? Do we want to look back and realise we became the generation that legalised killing of the unborn? And yet, as a nation, as a Parliament, as Zimbabwe, we reversed the death penalty. We were elected by people who dream of a Zimbabwe that grows into a prosperous, self-reliant, middle-income nation, not one that devalues its people before they are even born. Let other countries adopt these anti-life laws but not our God-given Zimbabwe. We must address the root cause. Rape, incest and abuse must be met with the harshest, deterrent sentences so that people will not freely rape, knowing that they will get away with it. Rape is one of those issues we should have severe sentencing, maybe more than 50 years and no parole. This will deter people who take it lightly. What we need to do as Parliamentarians is to ensure that the enforcement and the timeous enforcement of rapists is done soonest. Just like the issue on the stealing of cattle. You know that if you just steal one cow, it is nine years straight. So, we should come up with such laws which deter and make people afraid of rape.
Talking of rape, it is not outside people who do the rape. We in the families are protecting the rapists and women in particular because he is my brother or he is my son-in-law, I will not get what I was supposed to get, so let us not report. They must be reported immediately. It is the family which is protecting these rapists. In the end, we want to kill the unborn child.
We know in Zimbabwe, if you do not have a child, you will be given all sorts of names; ngomwa, whatever but what makes us so sure that this unborn child I was going to have, maybe that is the only one which God had given me and I want the child killed. Who remains with psycho-social pain even long after we are gone? We want to make sure that our children are going to be in trouble. They also have conscience. We have laws here which stipulate clearly that a child is a child under 18. We should ensure that as a society and as a country, we have deterrent activities. It should not take more than two weeks or a week. We should have instances that once it is found out that this has happened, the police should come in and the doctors should do their work promptly so that justice is done instantly because justice delayed is justice denied.
So, by making it easy for the rapists to kill the unborn child, we are making them get away with murder. During the contributions, some people said one of the issues is that we do not want to stay in the family with a child whom we do not know the father. So, it is better to make sure that the child is not disturbed; so let us just kill it. I want to pose a question to people in this House, men in particular. How sure are you that those you call your children are your children? How sure are you? We, the women, know that this is my child but in Shona, we have a saying that gomba harina mwana and you are busy looking after children who are not yours. But now this one, because the child is young, you say let us just kill. Let us address the issue. Instead of ending lives, we must offer better alternatives such as foster parenting, adoption and safe homes that can provide sanctuary for both the mother and child.
As families, we also love our children even if they are raped. Let us look after them and love them because you never know in future who is going to look after you. Maybe that person you killed because the father was not known; how many families do you know who have children whose fathers are unknown? They are still part of our family and that is our culture. However, let us deter the rapists. To families worried about shame, I mean I just said it now, do not worry about shame because you do not know, we have just told you these are your children. Let us just adopt and accept the children who come to us.
In conclusion, this is an ethical and moral matter and one that should be addressed not just through law but through deep societal healing. Government should work closely with churches, traditional leaders and community organisations. We must be bold and courageous to fight the root cause and not just the system. As it is written in Deuteronomy 30:19, “I have set before you, life and death, blessings and curses”. Now, let us choose life so that you and your children may live. I thank you.
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