Abortion demand: Couple reconciled

A 32-year-old man of Lusaka’s Libala South township has told the Lusaka Boma local court that his wife has been threatening to leave him because he rejected her demand that she terminates her nine-month pregnancy.

Wellington Mwamba said his wife, Mildred Nachisambwe, 25, has never been happy since then because she is ashamed of having fallen pregnant soon after the couple had their second child.

Mwamba said this in a case in which Nachisambwe, of Chawama Township, sued him for marriage reconciliation. The two got married in 2004 and they have three children together.

Mwamba said their marriage began to shake when he started suspecting that Nachisambwe was pregnant but she adamantly denied that this was so until the pregnancy started showing.

“When it was obvious that she was indeed pregnant, she started getting annoyed over nothing. Later she demanded that I give her money to have an abortion saying she couldn’t keep the pregnancy because our other child was still very young,” he said.

Mwamba said to please her and restore peace in their marriage, he give in to her demands and he escorted her to see a doctor to carry out the abortion.

While there, Mwamba changed his mind about Nachisambwe terminating the pregnancy and this infuriated her.

To ease her mind, Mwamba said he consulted elders who advised him against Nachisambwe aborting because it was dangerous and she could die.

“After that she started demanding that I take her back to her parents’ place but on one condition that she should not be pregnant. That was impossible because she was very pregnant at the time,” he said.

He said their marriage has never been the same as each time they quarrel she demands that he takes her back to her village because he rejected her wish to terminate the pregnancy.

Mwamba said the unnecessary quarrels prompted him to move out of their matrimonial home in September last year. He said Nachisambwe also did not want him in the house.

“Each time we argue she threatens to leave or asks me to take her back to the village in Mpulungu because she does not want to be with me because I forced her to have another child. This does not really make sense to me because she is a married woman. I still love her nonetheless and I am ready to reconcile with her but only if she wants me back,” he said.

In her submission, Nachisambwe said she was not serious about having the abortion but made the statement just to scare him.

“I did not blackmail him, I just told him that I wanted to go back to the village and that if he had to take me, he had to ensure that I was not pregnant as I needed to go back childless the way he married me; without children, but I could have never gone ahead with the abortion,” she said.

Nachisambwe said, however, that that Mwamba is abusive and at one time he threatened to kill her with an axe.

She said she was only rescued by her neighbours and a cousin. She said she would have presented the axe in the court as evidence but that her cousin has thrown it away.

When asked by Mwamba why Nachisambwe’s cousin took him in after she chased him from their matrimonial home if he had indeed tried to kill her, Nachisambwe could not answer.

Asked by the court if she was still interested in reconciling with Mwamba, Nachisambwe said she still wanted him because he was her husband and a good father.

“I do love my husband and I want him to move back although he scares me at times, but we have been happy in our marriage,” she said.

Acting principal presiding magistrate Elipha Mwewa, sitting with senior court magistrate Lazarous Mwape, reconciled the couple and urged the two to love and respect each other and to be open about their expectations in their marriage.
[ Sunday Mail ]