Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio gave the go-ahead to a bill that decriminalizes abortion on July 1, 2022. He announced it at the African Conference on Sexual Health and Rights taking place in took place in the capital Freetown.
“Safe motherhood” is the name of the project led by President Julius Maada Bio. Sierra Leone has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, part of which is linked to unsafe abortions. This is the reason why her government has notably unanimously approved a program aimed at preserving women’s health while preserving their rights.
“At a time when women’s sexual and reproductive health rights around the world are either being reversed or under threat, we are proud that Sierra Leone can once again lead progressive reform.”
Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra LeoneAfrican Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Freetown, July 1, 2022
This announcement comes a few days after that of the Supreme Court of the United States which revoked, at the end of June, the right to abortion arousing criticism and indignation throughout the world. In Sierra Leone, as in other African countries, women’s rights organizations have been fighting for years to denounce sexual violence and demand the right to abortion. The current law dates from 1861, a century before the country gained independence from Britain. It prohibits abortion unless the life of the mother is in danger.
Besides decriminalizing abortion, the bill approved by the Sierra Leonean government opens wider access to contraceptives, post-abortion care and other reproductive health services. He was qualified as “monumental advance” by women’s rights groups. Until then, women and girls put themselves in danger to circumvent the ban imposed by law.
“As a teenager, I almost bled to death after a clandestine abortion. May this generation be the last to experience these horrors”
Josephine Kamara, a feminist activistAFP
The bill still has to be voted on in Parliament. The latter had already adopted in 2015 a law on safe abortion. It was never promulgated by the then president Ernest Bai Koroma who had bowed to pressure from certain religious groups.
Abortion remains mostly prohibited in Africa where only a handful of countries such as Tunisia, South Africa or Benin have decriminalized this medical act.