On September 28, the world observes International Safe Abortion Day, with an emphasis on women’s right to legal and safe abortions.
In Kenya, the debate over the legal status of abortion access continues, with reproductive health activists hailing a landmark decision that prohibits arrest and decriminalizes prosecution of those seeking and providing post-abortion care in the country.
However, these celebrations may be cut short after Christian professionals filed a legal challenge against the ruling.
The judgment in the case filed in Malindi is a big win for women and health care providers, according to the Centre for Reproductive Rights (CRR), a non-governmental organization that filed the case.
The ruling also prohibited decriminalizing forced medical examinations of women in order to determine whether they had obtained abortions for the purpose of prosecution.
However, the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum and two other petitioners have challenged that ruling, claiming that it justified the “right to kill an unborn child.”
CRR, on the other hand, maintained that the ruling only grants young girls and women the legal right to access these services without jeopardizing their lives.
The Christian Professionals Union is hopeful that their challenge to the Malindi judgment, which is currently before the Court of Appeal, will be successful, restoring the defence of the Right to Life.
Reproductive health service providers and opponents alike hope it will not and that it will effectively protect the gains made in a field and issue that remains highly divisive in Kenya.
Unsafe abortions are said to cause 2,600 deaths in the country each year, or 7 deaths per day, with the majority of victims coming from low-income families who cannot afford private health care.
