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’s Proposed Abortion Amendment Takes Procedure Out of the Courts

Rwanda’s Proposed Abortion Amendment Takes Procedure Out of the Courts
Rwanda’s current penal code says the final decision over whether a woman can have an abortion lies with courts. Often women have to wait weeks or months for a ruling. Now, a new amendment would allow most abortions to go through with the consent of the woman and her doctor.

Written by Rodrigue Rwirahira
Published on Jan. 22, 2018

KIGALI, Rwanda – Civil society groups, health experts and lawmakers in Rwanda are divided over a proposed change to the penal code that would make it easier for a woman to get an abortion. The draft amendment, which was passed by Parliament in December and now needs the approval of President Paul Kagame, would allow a woman and her doctor to decide among themselves whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. Currently the final decision lies with a third party: the courts.

Continued: https://www.newsdeeply.com/womenandgirls/articles/2018/01/22/rwandas-proposed-abortion-amendment-takes-procedure-out-of-the-courts

Rwanda: What difference will revised Penal Code make on abortion?

What difference will revised Penal Code make on abortion?

By: Collins Mwai
Published: November 01, 2017

The draft Penal Code – currently under parliament’s scrutiny– among other things proposes scraping of the requirement of a court order before procuring an abortion.

This will broaden exemptions from criminal liability for abortion from the current four conditions to five.

Currently, anyone seeking an abortion is expected to submit to a doctor an order issued by a competent court recognising that pregnancy is the result of rape, second degree incest, or forced marriage.

Continued at source: http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/222757/

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/