Abortion care: Lessons for Kenya from other African countries
Reproductive justice advocates say if Kenya adopts best practices on access to abortion, more lives of women and girls would be saved.
What you need to know:
- If Kenya adopts best practices on access to abortion, more lives of women and girls would be saved, say reproductive justice advocates.
- South Africa has had the Termination of Pregnancy Act from 1996.
- 'Sierra Leone is also seeing a wave of change with the President having dialogues on how best to reform the abortion law for the country.'
Reproductive justice advocates say if Kenya adopts best practices on access to abortion, more lives of women and girls would be saved.
A 2010 In Harm’s Way: The Impact of Kenya's Restrictive Abortion Law report by Centre for Reproductive Rights estimated that more than 2,600 women die in Kenya, annually, from complications of unsafe abortion.
The advocates say Kenya can learn from African countries that have adopted progressive laws on abortion.
“South Africa has had the Termination of Pregnancy Act from 1996 but due to the lack of holistic implementation of the Act, there continues to be stigma from the community,” says Ipas Africa Alliance, policy and advocacy manager Suzanne Majani.
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), she says, has also adopted a holistic strategy.
Abortion law
It ratified the Maputo Protocol and, thereafter, developed standards and guidelines to reduce maternal mortality, she says.
It also trained judges, law enforcement officers and healthcare providers on the same.
“Sierra Leone is also seeing a wave of change with the President having dialogues on how best to reform the abortion law for the country,” she noted.
Reproductive Health Network Kenya executive director Nelly Munyasia, says Rwanda and Ethiopia are also leading from the front in promoting women’s reproductive rights.
“In October 2018, the Rwandan government removed the requirement of court approval and the second doctor’s permission for a legal abortion. This means women can access abortion services in accredited facilities,” she says.
She notes that the country allows abortion in cases where the pregnant person is a child, became pregnant as a result of rape, forced marriage, incest or when the pregnancy puts the health of the pregnant girl or woman or foetus, at risk.
Similarly in Ethiopia, abortion is now legal in cases of rape, incest or foetal impairment, Ms Munyasia says.
Mentally unprepared
“In 2005, Ethiopia expanded its abortion law, which had previously allowed the procedure only to save the life of a woman or protect her physical health,” she notes.
“In addition, a woman can legally terminate a pregnancy if her life or physical health is in danger, if she has physical or mental disabilities, or if she is a minor who is physically or mentally unprepared for childbirth.”
She says, since the enactment of the new law, efforts have been undertaken to improve access to abortion-related care such as constructing more health centres and training more midlevel healthcare providers.
She notes that Ethiopia’s abortion rate remains lower than the estimated rate of 34 per 1,000 women for East African region.
