The Parliament will discuss a bill on “risk -free maternity”, approved unanimously by the government.
Le Monde with AFP
The president of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, gave on Friday 1 er July his green light to the bill on “risk -free maternity” which decriminalizes abortion in a country where The maternal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world.
“My government has unanimously approved a risk -free maternity bill which will include a series of essential provisions to guarantee the health and dignity of all girls and women of childbearing age in this country”, announced Mr. Bio during his closing speech of the 10
The law must still be discussed and voted in Parliament, according to the presidency. “At a time when women’s rights in matters of sexual and reproductive health are either overturned or threatened, we are proud that Sierra Leone can again lead a progressive reform,” he said under a thunder public applause.
At the end of June, the United States Supreme Court revoked the constitutional nature of the right to abortion, opening the possibility of American states to make it illegal on their territory.
10 % of deaths Kindergartens due to abortion
The current law on abortion in Sierra Leone dates from 1861, a century before the independence of the country. It prohibits abortion, unless the life of women is in danger. However, health authorities believe that abortions at risk causes around 10 % of the country’s maternal deaths. The United Nations Fund for populations has counted 1,120 maternal deaths per 100,000 births in 2017, one of the highest rates in the world.
The practice of excision also concerns almost 90 % of women in this small English-speaking country in West Africa bruised by a civil war which lasted eleven years (1991-2002) and during which thousands of women were subjected to rape and sexual violence.
“This monumental advance is a victory for our communities and the coalition of organizations and movements of defense of women’s rights in Sierra Leone who pleaded in favor of a legal, political and social change to decriminalize abortion “, welcomed the main organizers of the conference in a press release.
“In adolescence, I almost bleed to death after a clandestine abortion. May this generation be the last to live these horrors,” also reacted Josephine Kamara, a feminist activist.
In 2015, the Parliament of Sierra Leone had adopted the law on secure abortion, but the president of the time, Ernest Bai Koroma, had refused to promulgate it due to the pressures of certain religious groups.