Qacha’s Nek, Oct. 22 — Senior Resident Magistrate Ts’eliso Bale of the Qacha’sNek Magistrate Court has sentenced Reitumetse Mokhele, a 31-year-old woman from Tsoelike, Ha Matlali, to two years jail term for abortion.
But the sentence was wholly suspended for two years on condition that she does not commit a similar offence.
When delivering judgment, Senior Resident Magistrate Bale said he took into account that Mokhele was a first-time offender who had saved the court’s time by pleading guilty.
Mokhele was charged under Section 45 read with 109 (1) of the Penal Code Act No. 6 of 2010 for unlawfully terminating her pregnancy. The court heard that on October 16, 2025, while three months pregnant, Mokhele took pills to induce a miscarriage.
According to Crown Counsel ’Mants’ebo Mofoka, a neighbour reported that Mokhele, who had left her children in her care claiming to be going to town, returned no longer pregnant. When questioned, Mokhele admitted to having taken pills to abort and disposed of the embryo in a nearby river.
Despite a search, it was never recovered, and the incident was reported to the village chief, who in turn notified the police.
Medical evidence presented by Dr. Paul Molikuoa of Machabeng Government Hospital confirmed that Mokhele had recently been pregnant. The report detailed an open cervix and retained septic products of conception, confirming a miscarriage more than three days prior to her hospital visit.
In mitigation, Mokhele told the court she resorted to abortion out of fear and financial hardship, stating “I feared I would not be able to raise another child since I am unemployed. I promise I will never repeat the same thing.”
She revealed that she has four children, and her husband works in South Africa. Mokhele has since opted for a contraceptive implant to prevent future pregnancies.
According to the 2022 State of the World Population Report, about 60 percent of unintended pregnancies in Lesotho end in abortion, underscoring a worsening reproductive health crisis. Despite government and partner efforts to promote Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), Early and Unintended Pregnancies (EUP) remain alarmingly high.
The report revealed that 35.7 percent of adolescents aged 10–15 years were admitted to health centres for abortion-related complications in 2019. In 2021, 8.17 percent of teenage girls (15–19 years) and 10.6 percent of young women (20–24 years) received medical care following termination of unintended pregnancies.
Backyard abortions remain rampant across the country, with Mohale’s Hoek District leading in illegal pill distribution and unsafe procedures. These practices expose women to life-threatening complications, including infection, infertility, and severe bleeding and in some cases, death.
Mokhele’s case exposes the reality confronting many Basotho women, poverty, limited healthcare, and restrictive abortion laws.
It challenges Lesotho to confront a painful question: how many more women must suffer before change comes?
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