Rwanda – Regional activists convene to advance sexual and reproductive health rights

By Bertrand Byishimo
January 17, 2022

Regional Civil Society Organisations have convened in Kigali for a two-day conference to discuss, share, and foster partnerships on access to safe abortion and sexual reproductive health.

The conference was organised by a coalition of Health Development Initiative (HDI), Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD), Ihorere Munyarwanda (IMRO) and Rwanda NGOs Forum on HIV/AIDS and Health Promotion (RNGOF on HIV/AIDS & HP).

Continued: https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/regional-activists-convene-advance-sexual-and-reproductive-health-rights


Rwanda – Supreme Court hears case on safe abortion

By Nasra Bishumba
Published : October 19, 2021

The Supreme Court on Monday, October 18 heard a case in which a local non-governmental organisation, Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD), sought to challenge two articles within the Penal Code regarding safe abortion.

Article 72 of the law determining the jurisdiction of courts stipulates that any person, company or association with legal personality can petition the Supreme Court to declare a law unconstitutional if they have any interest.

Continued: https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/supreme-court-hears-case-safe-abortion


Rwanda celebrates International Safe Abortion Day

By Joan Mbabazi
Published : September 30, 2020

Participants representing different organisations encouraged the youth and women to make use of safe abortion services.

Health Development Initiative (HDI) on Monday, September 28 partnered with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and other organisations to celebrate the International Safe Abortion Day. The celebrations were held at Kibagabaga Hospital and the main message for the day centred on measures to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/rwanda-celebrates-international-safe-abortion-day


Rwanda to release 50 women jailed for having abortions

Rwanda to release 50 women jailed for having abortions
Activists welcome pardons, but call for relaxation of abortion laws and an end to punitive measures such as life sentences

Christophe Hitayezu in Kigali
Published on Thu 21 May 2020

Rwanda is to release 50 women who were jailed for having abortions after a personal pardon was issued by the country’s president, Paul Kagame.

Human rights activists welcomed the pending release of the women, six of whom had been given life sentences – the highest penalty available to the courts – two serving 25 years and the others terms ranging from 12 months to 20 years.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/21/rwanda-to-release-50-women-jailed-for-having-abortions


Historic progress on abortion rights in Rwanda

Historic progress on abortion rights in Rwanda

May 6, 2019

Last month, Rwanda made historic progress toward advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights: President Paul Kagame pardoned 367 women and girls who had been jailed for abortion, and a ministerial order broadened the conditions under which people can access abortion. As part of the order, girls under 18 have the right to terminate a pregnancy before 22 weeks.

“These steps recognize abortion as a health and rights issue and acknowledge that imprisoning women for abortion does not address the reasons why women have abortions,” says Gillian Kane, Ipas senior policy and advocacy advisor.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/2019/May/historic-progress-on-abortion-rights-in-rwanda


Paul Kagame orders release of women and girls jailed over abortion in Rwanda

Paul Kagame orders release of women and girls jailed over abortion in Rwanda
Women’s rights activists welcome presidential pardon of 367 female prisoners as evidence of progress

Samuel Okiror
Fri 5 Apr 2019

Rwanda’s president has pardoned hundreds of girls and women jailed for abortion.

The women are expected to be released immediately under the presidential prerogative.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/05/paul-kagame-orders-release-of-women-and-girls-jailed-over-abortion-in-rwanda


The future of abortion access in the United States

The future of abortion access in the United States

By Anu Kumar, President and CEO
Thursday, July 19, 2018

Well, now we know—President Trump has nominated Brett Kavanaugh to fill Justice Kennedy’s U.S. Supreme Court seat. When Justice Kennedy announced he’ll retire at the end of July, there was a collective panic attack on the part of thousands of us who work to protect reproductive rights.

Kennedy was seen as a centrist and a critical “swing vote” on the court. In the early 1990s and again in 2016, he voted to preserve Roe v. Wade. What’s burning in my mind and the minds of so many of my colleagues and compatriots is Trump’s vow to ensure the Court has another justice who’s against abortion rights.

Continued: http://www.ipas.org/en/News/2018/July/The-future-of-abortion-access-in-the-United-States.aspx


Implementing legal abortion in Rwanda and its challenges

Implementing legal abortion in Rwanda and its challenges
May 23, 2017

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) is the main legal instrument for the protection of the rights of women and girls in Africa and the most comprehensive on women’s rights globally. The Protocol went into effect in November 2005, after the minimum 15 of the then 53 African Union member countries ratified it. Today, 49 countries have ratified.

Rwanda signed and ratified the Protocol in 2004 but placed a reservation on Article 14.2.C, which stipulates that countries should “protect the reproductive rights of women by authorizing medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest, and where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the life of the mother or the fetus. It subsequently lifted the reservation in 2012, making Rwanda fully committed to the Protocol.

Continued at source: News Ghana: https://www.newsghana.com.gh/implementing-legal-abortion-in-rwanda-and-its-challenges/


Sixty-two Rwandan girls imprisoned for abortion when under the age of 16 have been pardoned

by Safe Abortion
Jan 10, 2017

On 9 December 2016, an Extraordinary Cabinet meeting chaired by Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, has pardoned 62 girls and women imprisoned for abortions when they were under the age of 16. Justice Minister, Johnston Busingye, explained to the New Times that the President was exercising his constitutional right under the prerogative of mercy.

In March 2016, Rwanda’s Law Reform Commission had proposed that the law on abortion should be relaxed to allow easy approval of abortion without a woman having to go through rigorous court procedures. Some lawmakers backed the proposal, but the review has not yet taken place. According to Justice Minister Busingye, the aim is for access to a legal abortion to be decided by doctors instead the courts. In December, he said a proposal for amendments would be sent to the Cabinet and the Parliament early this year.

Edward Munyamaliza, president of the Civil Society Platform, called it a “unique decision”, according to the New Times. However, his comments about those being pardoned anything but positive. He said, for example, that “Pardoning these women and girls will allow them another chance to reflect on the wrong decision they took at that time and encourage others not to make similar mistakes.” And he was opposed to any “relaxation” of the law as something that “goes against the Rwandan culture and values”.

Minister Busingye, on the other hand, said that the presidential pardon would not encourage more abortions because: “It is not such a tempting, enjoyable or rewarding action. It is, in many cases, a choice imposed on a girl or woman by a set of specific circumstances they find themselves and the unborn child in.” He appeared to be supporting further law reform tomake safe abortion more easily accessible, but he too saw abortion as an offence that “upset and hurt other individuals or society”.

Article 162 of the Penal Code punishes self-induced abortion with a term of imprisonment of one to three years and a fine of Rwf 50,000 to Rwf 200,000 (US$61-244).

In 2012, reform of Article 165 of the Penal Code absolved from criminal liability a woman who has an abortion or a medical doctor who facilitates an abortion in cases of incest, rape, forced marriage, and when the continuation of a pregnancy seriously threatens the health of the unborn baby or the pregnant woman. But it requires both a professional doctor and a competent court of law to authorise an abortion. In rural areas, there are very few of either to be found, and pursuing a legal abortion is time-consuming and full of obstacles.

Data from the Rwanda Correctional Services showed that from 2008 to 2013, there were 227 women in prison for abortion and 367 for infanticide. A 2013-14 study on women in prison for abortion by Ipas and the Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD) found that from July 2013 to April 2014, 313 women and girls were incarcerated for illegal abortions in five of 11 prisons with the most women inmates. Many women convicted for infanticide or murder reported that they had had abortions and had been wrongfully prosecuted. Both charges carry a higher penalty than abortion. Few of the women had legal representation. Most were young and poor and had pleaded guilty even before reaching court.

One judge interviewed by Ipas and GLIHD said that he had heard many criminal abortion cases, but had never received a single application for a legal abortion, not even on the grounds of incest or rape. A case is usually taken to a primary court local to the woman, but a 2016 judiciary report found that it may take up to three months for a case to be heard, and if it is refused an appeal would take even longer. In cases of rape, the court demands proof of guilt of rape. Even when it is a life-threatening emergency, the discretion of the court remains.

In recent research conducted by the Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD) published in 2016, countless women are still forced to resort to unsafe abortions because of the obstacles created by the current law. They found that only 2,644 abortions had been undertaken at hospitals, of which 97% were to save the life of the woman. In contrast, according to a May 2014 report by the Guttmacher Institute, in 2012 the Rwandan government paid an estimated $1.7 million to treat approximately 18,000 women for complications of unsafe abortion; this was some 11% of the country’s total public spending on reproductive health.

Christopher Sengoga from GLIHD writes:

“The year 2016 has been full of positive strides regarding women’s safe abortion rights. Rwanda is currently reviewing its penal code to remove barriers that limit women to access safe abortion, the draft is in parliament for discussion. But it is not yet open for the public to debate and share views.

We hope there are no serious problems with the proposals. This view is based on a lobby by GLIHD of members of Parliament, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion. The latter Minister gained experience in sexual and reproductive rights when she was a member of Parliament in the Committee on Gender and Women’s Rights.

And yet, one might ask…. why not pardon all the women in prison for abortion? [Editors]

SOURCES: Christopher Sengoga, GLIHD, E-mail, 6 January 2017; New Times Rwanda, by Athan Tashobya, 12 December 20165 ; KT Press, by Kalinda Brenda, 3 January 2017. + When Abortion is a Crime, Ipas and Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development, 2015. VISUAL: Kigali Today, KT Press

Source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion