The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Social Development and Family Affairs Gotthard Kasuto has dismissed reports that the government has already decided to legalize abortion and that the ongoing hearings are mere formalities.

Kasuto refuted these at the hearing on whether to legalize abortion or not with the residents of Tobias Hainyeko and Moses Garoeb in Windhoek.

The majority of those who attended the hearing are against abortion.

The Chairperson of the Committee acknowledged the rights of everyone's view on the matter. 

"Abortion is a very sensitive issue, we needed to go back to the community and to our people to hear what are their views, before we even deliberate on this issue in Parliament and this is what we have done, we have called those petitioners, line ministry and all the stakeholders in Windhoek, that is where we started with them to hear their views, we also went to the other 13 regions and |khomas now is the last region."

Some of the participants say Namibia already has a small population for it to legalize abortion, but also in that the country is by large a Christian nation and abortion will only destroy people's morals.

They however suggest that government must be ready to take in more children of parents who may struggle to raise them to prevent baby dumping.

Martin Kamati who rose in support, says abortion will negatively affect women in the long run, should they be unable to bear children when the time they want to have them comes. 

"If today we start to practice abortion, let's say this person has been doing an abortion and it results that this person can no longer give birth should I still give them my children if they have killed theirs, we all know that abortion is not correct at all it is an abomination."

He, however, supports that abortion can be carried out in life-threatening situations.

Those in favour of abortion also say, legalizing it will prevent baby dumping.

Laina Nailege says the country needs to respond to reality, as some households can no longer afford to raise children and may resort to abortion.

"All the schools around the country you find babies, and cases within the country, why don't we fix the cases before they happen, why do you want to fix them while it has already happened."

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Social Development, and Family Affairs is rounding up hearings on abortion in the |Khomas Region that are expected to end on the 27th of this month.