Violet Zulu, a house cleaner from Zambia, found herself at the center of a legal nightmare that began with a request for medical help and ended with a seven-year prison sentence.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Medical Denial
- The Request: Facing a difficult pregnancy and financial hardship, Zulu sought a legal abortion through the formal health system. In Zambia, abortion is legal under specific health and social conditions, but access is often blocked by bureaucratic hurdles.
- The Refusal: Despite the legal framework, she was denied the procedure. Left with no medical options and a desperate situation, she eventually self-managed her termination.
The Legal Consequences
- The Arrest: After the illegal procedure was discovered, Zulu was arrested and charged under the country’s restrictive penal code.
- The Sentence: In 2024, representing herself without a lawyer, she was sentenced to seven years in a maximum-security prison.
- The Toll: Zulu spent nearly two years behind bars, separated from her two children, while her case remained largely invisible to the public.
The Path to Freedom
Last month, Zulu was finally released after international human rights groups took up her cause and filed an appeal. Now, she is sharing her story to highlight the “hidden prisoners” of abortion bans—women who are often poor, under-represented, and forced into the shadows of the justice system.
“She represents many who are let down at every step: by a partner who left, a health service that denied her, and a justice system that punished her for a lack of options.”
