By JACOB ZIMBA and GERALD IMRAY

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — She says she was let down at every step. By a partner who abandoned her when she was pregnant. By a health service that denied her a legal abortion. And by a justice system that sent her to a maximum-security prison for illegally terminating her pregnancy on her own.

Violet Zulu, a house cleaner in Zambia earning $40 a month, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2024 after representing herself in court with little understanding of the consequences of her actions. She didn’t see her two children or other family members for nearly two years.

After word of her case reached international rights groups that helped her file an appeal, Zulu was freed last month. Activists say she represents many women in Africa who take desperate decisions when facing barriers to legal abortion services.

Her story has drawn little sympathy in her southern African nation, where parts of society view abortion harshly. Her own mother said she agreed with her daughter’s prison sentence, but said it should have been shorter.

Zulu spoke with The Associated Press as she pieces her life together again at the age of 26.

Violet Zulu, who was sent to a maximum-security prison after she was denied a legal abortion and ended her pregnancy on her own, poses for a photograph in Lusaka, Zambia, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Kille)

Turned away from care

She said she first attempted to access legal abortion services at a public clinic, which should have given her advice or services but turned her away. She then tried a private pharmacy, which requested 800 Zambian kwacha ($43) for abortion drugs, a month’s salary for her.

She was already struggling to feed her two young sons, and she sometimes had to beg food from relatives.

She said her decision to drink an herbal concoction she prepared herself, one known for terminating pregnancies, was taken out of despair. She couldn’t bear for her boys to have even less food if she had another child.

“I never wanted to abort my pregnancy, but it is the circumstances at home that forced me to do it,” Zulu said in the interview at the two-room rented home with no running water that she shares with her children and parents.

“I was scared (when I took the concoction), but I didn’t really care what would happen to me,” she added.

In her court testimony, she explained what happened next: She delivered the fetus in a toilet, placed it in a sack and dropped it in a nearby stream. She said she confided in a friend, but word got out and neighbors reported her to police.

Zulu, who left school in the eighth grade, was never offered free legal counsel despite the right to request it. She represented herself in court and pleaded guilty to the offense of procuring her own abortion. She said she didn’t understand the legality of abortion and thought she would receive a warning.

A system that failed

“This is a system that failed Violet,” said Rosemary Kirui, a legal adviser for Africa for the abortion rights group Center for Reproductive Rights, which campaigned for Zulu’s release and helped with her appeal. “It is not that she did not try. It is that she could not afford the services, yet she should be able to access them as a citizen of Zambia.”

Zulu should have been eligible for a free abortion under a provision that allows doctors in Zambia to consider risks to the well-being of her existing children, said Sharon Williams, country director for the Women and Law in Southern Africa advocacy group.

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But Zulu was not aware of that, largely because of the secrecy, stigma and shame around abortion, which is not advertised by Zambia’s public health system.

Zambia’s Health Ministry did not respond to questions about her case.

Part of the problem, Williams said, is that Zambia has legalized abortion while also defining itself in its constitution as a strongly Christian country.

Abortions are still largely restricted in Africa, with few countries allowing them for reasons other than threats to the health of the mother or the fetus. Even in countries where abortion is legal in some circumstances like Zambia, religious beliefs, conservative values rooted in local cultures or a lack of information make access to legal procedures difficult, according to health and rights groups.

Williams said Zulu’s case ought to lead to a national conversation over whether Zambian authorities should better educate communities over the legal right to abortion.

“I think now that we have this judgment, we’re ready for the conversation,” she said.

Desperate women, unsafe abortions

Activists say desperate women turn to unsafe abortions. Africa and Latin America have the highest proportions of them, with approximately 75% of all abortions in Africa deemed unsafe, according to the World Health Organization.

The Guttmacher Institute health rights organization estimated in a 2019 report that over 6 million unsafe abortions a year occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. It noted that Zambia’s abortion law “tended to be a ‘paper law’ rather than one that ensures widespread access.”

In South Africa, which claims to have the most progressive laws on the continent, abortion has been legal for nearly 30 years. It is allowed on request before 13 weeks of pregnancy and for several reasons before 21 weeks.

But studies estimate only 7% of public health facilities there offer abortion services.

In 2023, the case of a 14-year-old who was denied an abortion by South African health workers three times for reasons that were not valid prompted a national reality check. After an urgent court case, a judge ordered that the girl be allowed to have an abortion, which was performed on the last day eligible by law.

At the time, a representative of the social justice group that represented the girl said South Africa’s abortion laws were being undermined by “the abuse of medical knowledge by health care professionals” in trying to prevent abortions.

In Zambia, Zulu said she still felt bad about what she did but must now provide for her sons. She was looking for work again, she said.

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Minnesota’s women’s basketball team entered the Top 25 for the first time this season on Monday on the heels of an eight-game winning streak, ranked No. 23 in this week’s Associated Press poll.

With a 83-60 victory at Wisconsin on Sunday, the Gophers improved to 20-6 overall, 11-4 in the Big Ten Conference.

Minnesota received 104 votes in the poll. The Gophers are host to No. 10 Ohio State at Williams Arena on Wednesday night, and to No. 18 Michigan State on Sunday afternoon.

The Gophers were ranked for two weeks last season but went 3-9 down the stretch and were left out of the NCAA tournament. Minnesota then won the Women’s Basketball Invitation tournament and finished with a program-best 25 wins in coach Dawn Plitzuweit’s second season.

Four other Big Ten teams appeared in the poll: No. 2 UCLA, No. 6 Michigan, No. 13 Iowa and No. 14 Maryland.

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FORT MYERS, Fla. — Pablo López walked off the Hammond Stadium mound after delivering a pitch, cutting short his live batting practice session. López was in his third “up” or simulated inning when elbow soreness forced him to shut things down.

The news of López’s right elbow discomfort marred an otherwise positive day of camp for the Twins, who held their first full-squad workout of the spring on Monday at their complex in Southwest Florida.

The Twins plan to send López for imaging and will have more information after they do so.

“After he and (pitching coach) Pete (Maki) talked, we decided like ‘Hey, out of an abundance of caution, let’s get him off. Let’s get him off the field and make sure he’s okay,’” manager Derek Shelton said.

The starting pitcher is further ahead in his preparation for the season than some of his teammates because he was planning on participating in the World Baseball Classic for Venezuela for the second time in his career. This news puts that in jeopardy for López.

For now, the Twins plan to move cautiously with López, one of their top arms. López was highly effective last year when he pitched, but he made just 14 starts as he dealt with a myriad of injuries — a hamstring strain, a shoulder injury and a forearm strain suffered while fielding his position all landed him on the injured list.

“I don’t live in a speculative world. It’s a terrible place to be in this game,” Shelton said. “Right now, I’m taking we had a really good day. He felt some soreness. We’ll get it looked at and kind of move on from there.”

The day started with a team meeting during which Shelton, who took over for Rocco Baldelli this offseason, gave a speech hitting on a number of topics including intent, accountability and the group sticking together.

New team executive chair Tom Pohlad also spoke, and Shelton said called his message “passionate,” and “from the heart.”

“When we walked out of that meeting this morning, there was a really good feeling about the messaging I think we wanted to get across,” Shelton said.

While pitchers and catchers have been in camp for days and all of the position players had already reported by Sunday, Monday’s workout saw an extra flurry of activity.

Like every year, hope springs eternal in the early days of a new season. Even if the expectations of the team aren’t high outside of the clubhouse — projections and betting lines have them as a sub-.500 team — there’s optimism within the clubhouse.

“It feels like everyone’s excited for the year. You can genuinely feel that,” third baseman Royce Lewis said. “I think we’re ready to shock people. We don’t even have to say anything about it. People just keep writing us off. Whatever. That’s fine. I’m ready for that.”

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Many aspects of these Games have been more enjoyable for Giorgia Birkeland than her Olympic debut in 2022.

United States’ Giorgia Birkeland competes in the women’s 1500m speed skating time trials at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Rho, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

“Last time was not even a comparison,” the speedskater from White Bear Lake said.

For one, it was still in a COVID-era of competition, where competitors were bunkered down and sporting masks in Beijing.

“There was like no congregating, no pin exchanges, really,” she said. “It was very not social at all.”

This time around, Birkeland is getting the full experience. She has explored the village and has the food schedule down.

“It’s way more fun,” the 23-year-old said. “It’s very cool.”

Everything is also more comfortable, in part because she knows she belongs.

Four years ago, Birkeland’s Olympic berth was a bit of a surprise. And while she earned it via her performance leading up to the Games, she didn’t feel like she was meant to be there — even as she finished 12th in the mass start at Beijing.

“Before, racing at the Olympics felt more like a threat,” Birkeland said. “It didn’t feel like an opportunity. I had imposter syndrome to the max. It was my first international competition, and I was really the newbie. …  I didn’t necessarily feel super prepared. It was like a surprise. You didn’t really know what to expect.”

The circumstances have flipped in Italy where, coincidentally, Birkeland was born. The Mahtomedi High School alum is part of the U.S. team pursuit, which races in the semifinals at 7:52 a.m. Tuesday and then, if all goes well, in the finals shortly thereafter.

She goes into the races confident, ready and excited.

“I’ve been preparing for this moment this entire year, so it feels way sweeter,” Birkeland said. “Rather than it being like, ‘Oh, I have to do this thing,’ it’s like, ‘Oh my god, this is what I’ve been working all year towards, and I get to do it.’”

She earned this, and she’s going to savor it. Birkeland plans to retire at season’s end, meaning this will be her final Olympics, and it almost never came to be after – quite literally – a false step.

It was the fall of 2024, Birkeland believes it was September, and the athlete rolled her foot while walking and broke a bone in her foot.

She couldn’t walk, nor bear weight. The injury sidelined Birkeland for months. She missed nearly the entire World Cup campaign that winter.

“My whole season was gone,” she said.

Was her career? Birkeland trains in Utah, but there wasn’t a lot of support available during her recovery. She wasn’t on the national team, which was tied up in World Cup competitions at the time. Her coach had recently been let go.

Birkeland credits her sister, her teammates and former Olympic speedskating gold medalist Derek Parra for helping her push a rehab grind that largely involved daily pool work.

Not exactly the most enjoyable experience.

“It made me bunker down and be like, ‘OK, is this something I really want?’” Birkeland said.

Which was an immediate, “Yes,” correct?

“No,” Birkeland said. “I feel like I was thinking about quitting like the entire time.”

Even when she was able to return to the ice, coming back from “Ground Zero” presents its own challenges. But she was able to return for the tail end of the World Cup season and recorded a time that qualified for “A” funding, which provided motivation and validation.

By the summer, Birkeland decided she was going to compete for one more season and take one more hack at the Olympic dream.

Brittany Bowe of the U.S., front, is followed by teammates Mia Manganello, center, and Giorgia Birkeland, right, as they compete in the women’s team pursuit quarterfinals speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

“I’m like, ‘OK, I only have one year left after this, I might as well make it count,’ ” she thought.

She’d picked up good habits from her rehab process. The sunset of a career provides necessary urgency. Everything Birkeland did was intentional.

The payoff was this trip to Italy, this experience, Tuesday’s pursuits that, unlike in 2022, she’s thoroughly excited to skate.

“I honestly can’t wait to race. I want to prove it to the world, I want everyone to watch, because this is our time to shine,” Birkeland said. “It feels a lot different than four years ago.”

Largely thanks to the lessons she has learned along the way.

“I feel like, honestly, (I’ve learned to) just make the most out of it. Understanding that life is a journey,” Birkeland said. “Even the Olympics, it’s like a destination with the medal. But really, I think the best gold medal was the journey I was able to go through, the people I was able to meet and the things I was able to learn about myself.”

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