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The dismantling of the right to abortion in the United States could cost African women dearly. This is the pessimistic observation made by NGOs and activists for access to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in sub-Saharan Africa. “Supreme Court ruling risks undermining the rights of African women for decades », worries Cameroonian Mallah Tabot, technical adviser to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), an NGO based in Nairobi.
In this region where the rate of unplanned pregnancies is the highest in the world (91 per 1,000 women, against 64 worldwide), 92% of women live in a State where abortion is very restricted or even prohibited, according to the Guttmacher Institute research center. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 77% of abortions performed in sub-Saharan Africa are unsafe, resulting in 15,000 preventable deaths each year from infection or sepsis. Among the 8 million sub-Saharan women who had abortions between 2015 and 2019, most are adolescent students, not yet mothers and residing in urban areas.
Of the 48 sub-Saharan countries, only South Africa, Sao Tome and Principe, Cape Verde and Guinea currently allow abortion without restrictions. A large majority approve of it when the general health of the mother is in danger. But six others criminalize it (Senegal, Mauritania, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, Madagascar, Sierra Leone), even in cases of rape or incest.
Significant progress has all the same been made over the past twenty years, particularly since the drafting of the Maputo Protocol in 2003. This text, crucial in terms of the rights of African women, guarantees access to abortion in the event of rape, incest, danger to the health or life of the mother or the foetus. Since its adoption, 42 states on the continent have ratified it and 21 have relaxed their abortion laws.
“It’s holy bread for our detractors”
But since the American announcement, pro-abortion organizations operating on the continent fear that these major advances will come to a halt or be seriously damaged. “In Malawi, Morocco or Sierra Leone, reforms in favor of abortion have stagnated for several years. We fear that the political weight of the United States will further prolong this situation and aggravate the needless suffering of women,” alert Naisiadet Mason, director of public policy at the Guttmacher Institute.
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