In a decision that has caused relief and celebration among thousands of young women in the West African country, Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio last week announced that he and his Cabinet had unanimously backed legalising abortion.
Sierra Leone has the third-highest maternal mortality rate in the world (South Africa is placed at 66th), and the latest move is part of an expansive set of laws aimed at making motherhood safer.
Despite more girls and young women using modern contraceptives, the region has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the world, with almost 30% of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 giving birth, reports The Guardian.
Campaigners say unsafe abortions account for up to 10% of maternal deaths in the country, with maternal death statistics hovering around 1,120 deaths per 100,000 births in 2017.
Under a law dating from 1861, abortion is prohibited in Sierra Leone. Because it is illegal, it is frequently performed without medical supervision and often in unsafe settings. As a result, health officials point to studies that estimate unsafe abortions make up at least 10% of the nation’s maternal deaths.
Activists celebrated the move to repeal the colonial-era law and contrasted Bio’s support with the narrowing of reproductive rights in the US, while others saw it as out of step with society and a bid to appease international donors.
A similar Bill was passed in Parliament in 2015 but was rejected by the President at the time, Ernest Bai Koroma, after public pressure, particularly from religious groups.
The drafting of the drafting Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Act Bill must still pass in Parliament, where it may face fierce opposition from politicians eager to please a religious bloc. If abortion is legalised, access may be hampered by poor infrastructure and stigma. But for some, the reopening of a public debate on the issue is a hopeful sign.
“As a teenager I nearly bled to death after a backstreet abortion,” said Josephine Kamara, an activist for the feminist organisation Purposeful. “Let this generation be the last to experience the horrors of what happens when women’s most basic reproductive health needs are pushed underground.”
The President’s announcement came as Sierra Leone hosted the 10th African Conference on Sexual and Health and Rights where feminist organisations gathered in support of sexual health and reproductive rights. It was organised by Purposeful, which is part of a coalition of more than 20 women’s rights organisations in Sierra Leone called the People’s Alliance for Reproductive Health Advocacy (PARHA) that has been advocating for years for reproductive rights, including the right to abortion.
The victory was within reach in 2015, when Parliament passed the Safe Abortion Act, but when then-President Koroma refused to sign it into law, PARHA stepped up efforts in communities to advance social decriminalisation of abortion while simultaneously working in partnership with the administration of Bio, including the Ministry of Health, on issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights and sexual and gender-based violence.
World Bank Maternal Mortality Ratio (Open access)
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