Kenya – Timely conversation on reviewing age of consent

For Citizen Digital
Published on: April 21, 2021
By Dr. Stellah Bosire

The controversial debate on age of consent, an emotive matter, recently arose again as I responded to various queries on the relevance of legal reforms in Kenya.

At the crux of this question is the unjust, unnecessary and unrealistic legal statutes which impose harsh and unfair consequences on adolescent young boys engaged in consensual, romantic sexual activity with their adolescent peers. The legal provisions that exist do not appreciate the fact that young adolescents engage in such relationships, and in the eyes of the law, the boy — under the age of 18 years — is culpable of defilement.

Continued: https://citizentv.co.ke/blogs/opinion-timely-conversation-on-reviewing-age-of-consent-10369657/

21.04.2021

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Opinion

age of consent in Kenya

Dr. Stellah Bosire

Kenya Health Information management System

Ghana – Abortion claims 66 lives in 2020 — GHS

APR 15, 2021

Sixty-six women died in 2020 due to abortion related complications, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has revealed.

More than 54,000 cases of abortion, out of which 25,866 cases were classified as spontaneous abortions, were recorded in the country's heath facilities in 2020.

Continued: https://www.modernghana.com/news/1075023/abortion-claims-66-lives-in-2020.html

15.04.2021

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News

Dr. Chris Opoku Fofie

Rwanda – Riviera High School defies govt directive on pregnancy test

By Edwin Ashimwe

April 14,
2021

A few months after the Ministry of Education ordered schools to stop asking for
a pregnancy test as a precondition for admission, Riviera High School has
defied the directive.

In a letter from Kabuga-based school signed by its principal Boniface Onyango
and addressed to parents, a pregnancy test is one of the requirements for
admission for all female students.

Continued: https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/riviera-high-school-defies-govt-directive-pregnancy-test

14.04.2021

misogyny against pregnant women

Nigeria – Technology, e-commerce increasing abortion access in Nigeria- IPAS

News Agency Of Nigeria
April 14, 2021

In spite of the harsh restrictive abortion law in Nigeria, access to it is changing through technology and e-commerce, IPAS, an international non-profit advocacy group, has said.

The Country Director of IPAS, Mr Lucky Palmer, made this known at the presentation of the Nigeria Medical Abortion Study, conducted between June 2019 and April 2020.

Continued: https://www.pulse.ng/news/local/technology-e-commerce-increasing-abortion-access-in-nigeria-ipas/dfk8ljy

14.04.2021

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Dr Babatunde Adelekan

Nigeria Medical Abortion Study

South Africa – Mothers who abort never really request to bury the foetus, says abortion advocacy group

By Goitsemang Tlhabye
Apr 10, 2021

Gauteng - While the parents of babies miscarried at under 26 weeks can finally bury their foetus if they so wish, whether or not mothers who terminate pregnancy should be given the same allowance remains a heated debate.

A mother who requested to remain anonymous said she opted to have an abortion at six weeks and didn’t want to have the option of burying the foetus as a funeral would result in a lot of questions from friends and family regarding her choice to abort.

Continued: https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/news/mothers-who-abort-never-really-request-to-bury-the-foetus-says-abortion-advocacy-group-27b9ff3b-53b1-4252-ae33-0187f435647c

10.04.2021

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Abortion Support South Africa

burying fetal remains

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Gaopalelwe Phalaetsile

Africa

South Africa

Health

Nigeria – Healthcare Givers Free To Access Global Funding With GAG Rule Repeal —PAI

By Sade Oguntola
On Apr 8, 2021

Following the withdrawal of the Global Gap rule by President Joe Biden, groups and stakeholders into reproductive and sexual reproductive health have been urged to come forward to access global funding for supporting provision of comprehensive health services for women in Nigeria.

Director, Policy and Advocacy at Population Action International (PAI,) Mr Jonathan Rucks, speaking at the virtual training for media practitioners on “Global Gag Rule Rescindment: Implications and Next Steps” by IPAS in collaboration with PAI stated that the four years of US President Donald Trump’s administration global gag rule had globally led to increase in the cases of unsafe abortion and poor health of women.

Continued: https://tribuneonlineng.com/healthcare-givers-free-to-access-global-funding-with-gag-rule-repeal-pai/

Kenya – 15-year-old minor arrested for throwing foetus in pit latrine

3 out of 4 abortions that occurred in Africa and Latin America were unsafe.

by NANCY AGUTU, Senior Digital Reporter
08 April 2021

A 15-year-old minor has been arrested after procuring an abortion in Kabartonjo in Baringo county.

DCI director George Kinoti said detectives rescued the foetus from the verge of death after the minor threw it in the toilet.

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2021-04-08-15-year-old-minor-arrested-for-throwing-foetus-in-pit-latrine/

08.04.2021

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arresting women for abortion

fetal personhood

George Kinoti

jailing women for abortion

Lesotho- ‘Let the people decide’

3/30/2021

(MENAFN - The Post) MASERU -BASOTHO will soon have their say on a proposed law that seeks to legalise abortion.

This, after MPs managed to make some headway in their negotiations with a group of church leaders who have been vehemently opposed to the legalisation of abortion.

Continued: https://menafn.com/1101833739/Lesotho-Let-the-people-decide&source=22

30.03.2021

Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service

In Kenya, abortion focus obscures legislation towards safe reproductive healthcare services

Tagged “the abortion bill”, the Reproductive Healthcare bill of 2019 is, in fact a comprehensive document

Written by Laila Le Guen
Posted 30 March 2021

Reproductive rights in Kenya is an intimate and emotive topic where hard lines have been drawn on both sides. Pro- and anti-abortion campaigners keep cycling through episodes of heightened attention when high-profile cases arise and passions continue to run high. Meanwhile, the country registers numbers of unsafe abortions that are among the highest in Africa. Maternal mortality is high at about 6,000 deaths per year, 17 per cent of them from complications of unsafe abortion.

Limited legal recourse to access termination of pregnancy is a potential compromise that remains contested, leaving the two camps with a status quo that seems hard to shake off. What's at stake on both ends of this fiercely debated issue?

Continued: https://globalvoices.org/2021/03/30/in-kenya-abortion-campaigners-obscure-legislation-towards-safe-reproductive-healthcare-services/

Africa – Turning findings into policy: six tips for researchers

March 30, 2021
Anthony Idowu Ajayi, Boniface Ushie, Caroline Kabiru

There has been tremendous growth in the number of studies on sexual and reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa in the past two decades. Notably, there has been an increase in research documenting what works in improving adolescents’ health and wellbeing.

However, the use of findings from these studies to inform the development of policies is low. For example, research shows that educating young people about their sexuality and giving them access to contraceptive methods has lifelong benefits. But few sub-Saharan African countries have enacted laws or policies that follow through on the evidence.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/turning-findings-into-policy-six-tips-for-researchers-157971

30.03.2021