Southern Africans Defend Women's Marital and Reproductive Autonomy, Support Sex Education in Schools, but Voice Mixed Views On Abortion

16 September 2026
Afrobarometer (Accra)

Majorities say contraceptives should be made available to anyone who is sexually active regardless of marital status and age.

Key findings

  • On average across 10 Southern African countries, majorities say that women should be able to decide for themselves whether and when to marry (79%) as well as how many children to have and when to have them (74%).
  • o These views have majority support in all 10 surveyed countries.
  • o Support for women's autonomy in marriage and reproductive decisions is stronger among women than men, and increases with wealth and education status.
  • Most citizens in Southern Africa endorse the teaching of sexuality education in school (78%) and believe that girls who get pregnant or have children should be allowed to continue their schooling (86%). These, too, are majority positions in all 10 countries.
  • Almost three-fourths (73%) of citizens in the region say contraceptives should be made available to anyone who is sexually active regardless of marital status.
  • o A smaller majority (62%) would make them available to anyone regardless of age.
  • o Views on unfettered contraceptive access vary widely by country, from overwhelming support in South Africa to majority opposition in Zambia.
  • Half (50%) of those surveyed say that pregnancies are "occasionally" or "often" terminated in their community.
  • Nearly six in 10 respondents (58%) across Southern Africa say abortion can "sometimes" or "always" be justified if the woman's health or life is at risk, and about half (49%) say the same for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
  • o But solid majorities say pregnancy termination is "never justified" in cases where the woman is economically unable to care for a child (68%) or where she does not want to keep the pregnancy for any reason (73%).

Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines

Promoting women's health, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), is key to the achievement of universal health coverage, gender equality, and health equity. Health is indispensable to a woman's quality of life and facilitates other human rights, enabling full participation in economic, social, and political life (World Health Organization, n.d.). Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 5 speak directly to this through their mission to, respectively, ensure healthy lives and well-being for all and to advance gender equality (SIDA, 2021).

The story of SRHR in Southern Africa is a mixed bag of progress and challenges. On the progress front: The latest Southern African Development Community (SADC) scorecard, which tracks implementation of the SADC SRHR strategy (2019-2030) and gains toward SDGs related to health and gender equality, shows that adolescent births are down in 12 of the 16 member states, attributed largely to the introduction of sexuality education in schools. Other wins include declining HIV infection rates (although less impressively among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW)), reduced mother-to-child HIV transmission rates, and lower maternal mortality rates (SADC, 2026).

An ongoing challenge in the region is the provision of family-planning services: Half of SADC's member states are failing to meet the contraceptive needs of AGYW (Muhammed, 2026). Additionally, most SADC countries do not consider abortion an essential health-care intervention, limiting access to safe and legal abortion services. While South Africa and Mozambique have pioneered legal frameworks for safe abortion, many women in the region continue to face legal, institutional, and social hurdles. For example, Zimbabwe and Botswana permit abortions only in cases of rape or incest or if the woman's health is threatened (Gender Links, 2025). Estimates suggest that one in three unintended pregnancies in the SADC region are terminated, often under hazardous conditions due to a web of restrictive regulations (SADC Parliamentary Forum, 2025). And unsafe abortion is one of the primary causes of maternal deaths worldwide (Haworth, 2022).

Legal restrictions, gender inequality, poverty, stigma, and the unmet need for contraception combine to set the stage for limited access to, and uninformed decision making about, SRHR services, especially for AGYW (SADC Parliamentary Forum, 2025).

This dispatch examines public opinion in 10 Southern African countries on women's bodily autonomy, sexuality education, continued schooling for pregnant girls and adolescent mothers, contraceptive access, and abortion based on the latest Afrobarometer survey round, conducted between January 2024 and September 2025.1

The findings reveal that large majorities of Southern Africans support women's autonomy in decisions about marriage and childbearing, favour the teaching of sexuality education in schools, and - in most countries - support access to contraceptives regardless of marital status or age.

But opinions are mixed on the issue of abortion: While there is broad acceptance of pregnancy termination if the woman's health or life is in danger, only half of citizens in the region consider abortion justifiable if the pregnancy is due to rape or incest. And there is strong opposition to abortion in cases where the woman lacks the financial muscle to take care of a child or does not want to have a child regardless of the reason.

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2026 Afrobarometer. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 90 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.