Sierra Leone moves to decriminalize abortion

By: 3 years ago

Freetown, Sierra Leone/黑料社 Stock Photo

FREETOWN,听Sierra Leone鈥�Sierra Leone鈥檚 government has approved a draft law that would decriminalize abortion in a country with one of the world鈥檚 highest maternal mortality rates.

President Julius Maada Bio told the 10th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Freetown on Friday that his government had unanimously backed a bill on risk-free motherhood.

The law would guarantee the health and dignity of all girls and women of procreation age in the country, he added, after the US Supreme Court removed American women鈥檚 constitutional right to abortion.

Bio said he was 鈥減roud鈥� that Sierra Leone was implementing a 鈥減rogressive reform鈥� while women鈥檚 rights in sexual and reproductive health were being overturned or threatened.

The conference鈥檚 main organizers welcomed the move as a major step forward for women and rights groups in Sierra Leone.

Parliament will debate and vote on the legislation, according to the presidency.

Sierra Leone鈥檚 current abortion law dates back to 1861, a century before it won independence from Britain. It bans the procedure unless the mother鈥檚 life is at risk.

Health authorities estimate that high-risk abortions cause around 10 percent of maternal deaths in the small West African country.

The United Nations Population Fund reported 1,120 mother deaths per 100,000 births in Sierra Leone in 2017, one of the world鈥檚 highest mortality rates.

In 2015, parliament adopted a law on safe abortions, but the president at the time, Ernest Bai Koroma, refused to approve it due to pressure from religious groups.

Female genital mutilation affects almost 90 percent of women in the English-speaking country ravaged by an 11-year civil war during which thousands of women were raped.