Child Birth Is Pornography In Zambia

In a case which some might consider extraordinary, even bizarre, in the 21st century, Zambia is in the process of prosecuting Chansa Kabwela, the editor of Zambia’s influential ‘The Post’ newspaper for “pornography”.

Kabwela distributed three photographs of women giving birth in the parking lot of the main Lusaka hospital after being refused admission due to a doctor’s strike over wages and work conditions.

The point of the photos was to illustrate the absurdity of refusing women health care at the time of child-birth, and the conditions that these women were subjected to as a result of the lack of care.

Kabwela thought that she could encourage an end to the doctor’s strike by publishing the photos but instead Zambian President Rupiah Banda declared the photos as “pornographic”, stating that in his “entire life he had never seen any photos like these”, and ordered Kabwela arrested and prosecuted.

Apparently, Zambian men have never witnessed a child-birth and photographs of this natural process are “pornographic” in their view. As a result Kabwela is at trial charged with one count of distributing obscene material.

Two of the photos show a child exiting the birth canal of a woman lying in the hospital parking lot. The child is in a breach position with the legs emerging first. The child later died. The other photo shows a woman removing her clothes to give birth in the parking lot. The photos were taken by family members and given to Kabwela.

While many Zambian intellectuals are shocked at the charges made against Kabwela, and have openly stated their support for her and her efforts, the government continues on the path to imprison Kabwela and have thwarted every effort to have the case dismissed.

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