The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Social Development and Family Affairs will conduct public hearings on the three petitions received by the National Assembly with regard to the legalisation and non-legalisation of abortion in Namibia as well as the call to liberalise or reform the current Abortion and Sterilization Act of 1975. The petitions from various interest groups were received in 2020 and referred to the Committee for further consideration. The Committee has so far conducted public hearings with the petitioners, line ministries and other stakeholders in Windhoek. In addition, public hearings have been conducted in the Erongo, Omaheke, Hardap and //Kharas regions. In order to extend the hearings to the rest of the regions, the Committee has scheduled the hearings to continue in the regions of Zambezi, Ohangwena and Kavango East from 31 May to 2 June.