Credit: African Union
On January 18, 2016, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) announced that, through the Special Rapporteur on Rights of Women in Africa, it will be launching a continental Campaign for the Decriminalization of Abortion in Africa. [ACHPR Press Release] Of the ACHPR’s 57 Member States, 25 reportedly have legislation in place that either completely prohibits abortion or allows the procedure only when necessary to save a woman’s life, and an additional nine States allow abortion only in order to protect a women’s physical health. See Women on Waves, Abortion Laws Worldwide. Globally, the incidence of deaths due to unsafe abortions is highest in Africa. See WHO, Prevention of Unsafe Abortion.
The ACHPR initiative aims to eliminate the threat of arrest or imprisonment from women and girls’ reproductive health decisions, and to reduce the number of deaths caused by unsafe abortions. [ACHPR Press Release] Pursuant to their continental and international human rights commitments, African States have an obligation to ensure access to legal abortion, at least in certain circumstances. The current campaign also coincides with the African Year of Human Rights with particular focus on the Rights of Women.
Background
In 2013, ACHPR Member States met to discuss the status of maternal health in Africa and made various commitments with regard to improving maternal health. See ACHPR, Statement by Commissioner Lucy Asuagbor during launch of ACHPR Campaign for Decriminalization of Abortion in Africa. Some of these commitments included improving access to family planning and other health services such as safe abortions. Following this meeting, in 2015, the ACHPR issued a communiqué to increase accountability for women’s reproductive health and rights. One of the commitments made in the communiqué was to initiate a continental campaign to decriminalize abortion in Africa. See id. This led to the implementation of the Campaign for the Decriminalization of Abortion in Africa.
The goal of the Campaign for Decriminalization of Abortion in Africa is to prevent the continued practice of unsafe abortions, which result in the numerous injuries and deaths of women in Africa every year. [ACHPR Press Release] The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that unsafe abortions are one the largest contributors of maternal deaths and illness in Africa. [ACHPR Press Release]
In 2012, the WHO estimated that over six million unsafe abortions occur every year in Africa and 60 percent of these abortions are performed on women under the age of 25. See ACHPR, Statement by Commissioner Lucy Asuagbor during launch of ACHPR Campaign for Decriminalization of Abortion in Africa. The WHO also reported unsafe abortions resulted in 29,000 deaths in Africa, as well as numerous serious injuries and disabilities. [ACHPR Press Release]
The ACHPR believes that these deaths are in part due to the laws that criminalize abortions. The WHO and ACHPR agree that criminalizing abortions does not reduce the occurrence of abortions; rather it forces women to seek abortions in unsafe conditions. See ACHPR, Statement by Commissioner Lucy Asuagbor during launch of ACHPR Campaign for Decriminalization of Abortion in Africa. Therefore, the Campaign for the Decriminalization of Abortion in Africa seeks to remove these legal barriers, so that women may have access to better healthcare and safe abortions.
Regional Standards
The Campaign for the Decriminalization of Abortion in Africa is in line with the ACHPR’s mandate to promote and fulfill the rights guaranteed in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter) and other continental human rights standards, including the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). See id. The Maputo Protocol, adopted in 2003, is the primary legal instrument for the protection of African women’s rights to health, including sexual and reproductive health.
Some of the rights included in the Maputo Protocol include the right to control fertility, the right to decide whether to have children, and the right to choose any method of contraception. See Maputo Protocol, art. 14(1). The ACHPR hopes that the campaign will result in the actual implementation of Article 14(2)(c) of the Maputo Protocol and the removal of legal barriers that prevent women from accessing their rights to sexual and reproductive health.
The Maputo Protocol is the first human rights instrument to expressly recognize a right to abortion, under certain circumstances, and require access to a safe abortion if a woman should meet these conditions. See ACHPR, General Comment No.2 on Article 14.1(a)(b)(c)and (f) and Article 14.2(a) and (c) of the Protocol the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights of Women in Africa. In particular, Article 14(2)(c) of the protocol requires States parties to “protect the reproductive rights of women by authorizing medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest, and where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the life of the mother or the foetus.” Thirty-six Member States have ratified the treaty, 15 have signed it, and three Member States have yet to sign or ratify the treaty. See ACHPR, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.
The campaign also furthers the goals of the Maputo Plan of Action, the strategy designed to put the Africa Policy Framework for the Promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services into practice. See African Union, Maputo Plan of Action. The plan seeks to eliminate maternal deaths in Africa through universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services. There are a number of recommendations listed in the plan, including addressing unsafe abortions and creating higher quality and affordable health services. See id.
The new campaign also conforms to the objectives of the Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA). The African Union launched CARMMA in 2009 to improve maternal and newborn health and survival across Africa. See CARMMA, Why CARMMA?. CARMMA stems directly from key issues within the Maputo Plan of Action and the Africa Policy Framework for the Promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services.
Further, this campaign also aligns with the objectives of the 8th African Union Pre-Summit theme of “Africa Year of Human Rights with a focus on the Rights of Women.” [African Union Press Release]The Pre-Summit identified future priority areas of focus for women’s rights and discussed the need for more effective application of obligations on gender equality and women’s empowerment. [African Union Press Release]
National Laws
A number of national policies in place throughout the African continent regulate abortion. Many of the ACHPR Member States maintain policies whereby an abortion may only be obtained to save a women’s life or have prohibited abortions altogether. See Women on Waves, Abortion Laws Worldwide. Some of the States with these laws in place include Libya, Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Rwanda, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Angola, Congo, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. See id. Other Member States, such as Niger, Algeria, Cameroon, and Botswana, may permit an abortion to preserve the health of a woman. See id.
These laws may not comport with the Maputo Protocol’s requirement that abortion be made legally available in instances of sexual assault, rape, and incest or where continuing with the pregnancy poses a mental health risk for the woman. International standards have also been interpreted to require access to legal abortion services. For example, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has most recently condemned Peru for denying a woman an abortion where the fetus suffered from a fatal birth defect. [OHCHR Press Release]
A few Member States, such as Tunisia, South Africa, and Malawi, place no legal restrictions on the reasons for obtaining an abortion. See Women on Waves, Abortion Laws Worldwide
With regard to national legislation, the campaign seeks to pressure the heads of the Member States and their national governments to demonstrate their commitment to improving women’s health by decriminalizing abortion. [ACHPR Press Release]
Additional Information
For more information on the ACHPR and its Special Mechanisms, the human rights of women, or human rights developments in Africa, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.