A giant step for legal abortion in Kenya

The world’s attention has focused on the historic victories advocates for abortion care have brought about in Latin America in recent years, but it’s not the only region that has seen advances. Recently, in Kenya, a Court ruling showed that strategic litigation is also bringing progress to reproductive justice in Africa.  

In March 2022, a High Court in Malindi declared abortion-related arrests and prosecution illegal, concluding that abortion care was a fundamental right under the Constitution. The court added that protecting access to abortion affects vital constitutional values, including dignity, autonomy, equality, and bodily integrity.  

Abortion in Kenya is legal under certain exceptions, including danger to the life or health of the woman, and rape. Civil society organizations have long advocated to expand women’s rights to safe and legal abortion and the recent ruling opens a new opportunity.  

The landmark victory decided a case involving both the right of a minor to receive reproductive care, and that of a medical professional to treat her. An adolescent pregnant girl sought medical services at a clinic where a doctor determined that she had lost the pregnancy and provided her with essential post abortion care to save her life. Both were charged with “procuring an abortion.”  

“Laws and policies need to stop criminalizing women, girls, and health providers, because that won’t stop abortions. The government and the society need to ensure that laws and policies enable the existence of sexual and reproductive health services that are accessible for anyone, instead of criminalizing people for doing what they need to do,” says Monica Oguttu, Executive Director of KMET, a Fòs Feminista partner organization.  

KMET is based in Kisumu, the country’s third largest city in western Kenya, and works to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights among marginalized populations. During the COVID pandemic, KMET implemented a community-based model to ensure that women and girls had access to SRHR, including safe abortion. The organization also implemented a project to eliminate stigma around abortion, which represents a barrier for women and girls who want to end their pregnancies. 

“We need to ensure that all reproductive health providers in the country are aware of the recent ruling and are trained to implement a comprehensive Reproductive Health Policy that is being revised now. We will be pushing for the development of a good policy and then, its implementation” says Jedidah Maina, Executive Director of Fòs Feminista partner organization, TICAH.

TICAH has led different strategies for community strengthening in low-income areas of the country to promote SRHR and improve health and wellbeing of women and girls. KMET, TICAH and other civil society organizations are joining forces to ensure that Kenya and other countries in East Africa have a more feminist future.  

While abortion rights activists have suffered setbacks in the in the United States, other countries are showing that feminist activists are driving change to advance bodily autonomy. The movement for safe and legal abortion has reached each corner of the world.