A young mother receives a post-Cesarean dressing at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown on 25 April 2016. With the hospital’s head nurse as her sole guardian, she will have to face the complications of an early pregnancy and the difficulties of a complex journey back to school.
PHOTO: Marco Longari/AFP
- Sierra
Leone has approved a draft law that would decriminalise abortion. - President
Julius Maada Bio said his government unanimously backed a bill on risk-free motherhood. - The
country’s parliament will debate and vote on the proposed legislation.
Freetown
– Sierra Leone’s government has approved a draft law that would decriminalise
abortion in a country with one of the world’s 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’s constitutional right to abortion.
Bio
said he was “proud” that Sierra Leone was implementing a “progressive reform” while women’s rights in sexual and reproductive
health were being overturned or threatened.
The
conference’s main organisers welcomed the move as a major step forward for
women and rights groups in Sierra Leone.
High mortality rates
Parliament
will debate and vote on the legislation, according to the presidency.
Sierra
Leone’s current abortion law dates back to 1861, a century before it won
independence from Britain. It bans the procedure unless the mother’s life is at
risk.
Health
authorities estimate that high-risk abortions cause around 10% 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’s 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% of women in the English-speaking country
ravaged by an 11-year civil war, during which thousands of women were raped.
Never miss a story. Choose from our range of newsletters to get the news you
want delivered straight to your inbox.