Center Appeals to Kenyan Supreme Court in Defense of Constitutional Abortion Rights

In April 2026, the Court of Appeal in Kenya overturned a 2022 High Court ruling that affirmed constitutional abortion rights. The Center has taken the case to the Supreme Court on behalf of two Kenyans facing abortion-related criminal charges.

September 3, 2026
Center for Reproductive Rights

The Center has appealed to the Kenyan Supreme Court in a long-running case with the potential to reshape reproductive rights across the country. At its core is the question of abortion care—whether those who seek and provide such care are constitutionally protected against criminal charges.

The case, which revolves around a pregnant minor and a clinician who treated her during a medical emergency, has been making its way through the Kenyan legal system for the past six years. In 2022, the High Court delivered a landmark victory that affirmed widespread constitutional protections for abortion rights. Then, in April 2026, an appeals court overturned that ruling, threatening reproductive healthcare across the country. The Center has asked the Supreme Court to reverse the appeal court’s judgment.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/news/center-appeal-kenyan-supreme-court/

03.09.2026

Center for Reproductive Rights

Kenya Christian Professionals Forum

Kenyan Penal Code

Kenyan Supreme Court

Malindi Petition No. E009 of 2020

Litigation on abortion in Kenya: Inside the legal battles redefining reproductive rights

by Doris Kathia
Sept 3, 2026

Imagine being a 17-year old girl, lying in a hospital bed, bleeding and in pain after losing a pregnancy. You expect treatment. Instead, the police arrive. They take your medical records, arrest you from your hospital bed, and later charge you with procuring an abortion.

This is not a hypothetical story, but a reality of what happened to PAK in Kilifi. The PAK and Salim Mohamed case has become one of the most important legal battels in Kenya’s continuing struggle over abortion and reproductive rights. When a woman or girl seeks medical care after a pregnancy loss, does the health system see a patient in need of care or a potential criminal?

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/brand-book/litigation-on-abortion-in-kenya-5582064

03.09.2026

PAK and Salim Mohamed case

Advocating for safe abortion access in Kenya

Women’s Link Worldwide
August 14, 2026

On Tuesday, 28 July 2026, we filed a joint amicus brief at the Supreme Court of Kenya, together with FIDA Kenya and KELIN, in support of a case that advocates for a young survivor who sought abortion care after being sexually assaulted.

The case reached the Supreme Court after a lower court entered judgement against both the survivor and the healthcare provider who treated her, effectively criminalizing them both. We believe that judgment reflects a deeper contradiction running through Kenyan law. The Penal Code criminalizes abortion outrightly, while the Constitution of Kenya guarantees every person the right to the highest attainable standard of health, including reproductive health, and permits abortion where a trained health professional determines it is needed to protect a pregnant person’s life or health. When these two frameworks are allowed to pull against each other, it is survivors and healthcare providers who are caught in between.

Continued: https://womenslinkworldwide.org/en/advocating-for-safe-abortion-access-in-kenya/

14.08.2026

Women's Link Worldwide

Kenya – Shelves Go Dry, Services Collapse, Anti-rights Forces Surge And Deepen The Crises

Monday, 10 August 2026

Two health and gender rights leaders delivered a stark assessment of what happens when major external funding disappears overnight and organised opposition fills the vacuum. The sudden withdrawal of US government's funding support has not merely reduced services - it has fractured health systems, emptied pharmacy shelves, driven up unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions, and enabled anti-rights groups.

"Shelves go dry": The immediate collapse of care
Nelly Munyasia, Executive Director of the Reproductive Health Network Kenya (RHNK), did not soften her language. “We saw shelves go dry,” she said. When the US Agency for International Development (USAID) stop-work order took effect in January 2025, a system that had long operated in silos simply stopped functioning. HIV treatment, lifesaving antiretroviral refills, routine check-ups, counselling and testing outreaches, and community-based services for women, girls and key populations came to a standstill.

Continued: https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO2608/S00053/shelves-go-dry-services-collapse-anti-rights-forces-surge-and-deepen-the-crises.htm

How Kenya’s Court of Appeal Allowed the Indiscriminate Arrest of Women and Healthcare Providers for Abortion

By Marion Joy, LL.B- Kabarak University, PGDL- Kenya School of Law, Advocate of the High Court of Kenya
July 30, 2026

In April 2026, Kenya’s Court of Appeal handed down its decision in Attorney General v PAK. It overturned a High Court decision that had shielded a high school student, PAK, and her medical officer from criminal proceedings for allegedly procuring an abortion and allowed those proceedings to resume. This piece contends that the appeal decision breached established judicial principles by introducing and focusing on an issue that neither party had raised at the expense of its Constitutional duty to advance human rights. The Court also failed to engage with the harrowing facts of the case or consider how its reasoning could jeopardize human rights protections going forward.

Continued: https://www.iconnectblog.com/how-kenyas-court-of-appeal-allowed-the-indiscriminate-arrest-of-women-and-healthcare-providers-for-abortion/

30.07.2026

Takeaways from AP’s report on the impact of US aid restrictions on reproductive rights in Africa

Monika Pronczuk, The Associated Press
Jul 18, 2026

KISUMU, Kenya (AP) — The abortion debate in America is putting lives of women thousands of miles away at risk, particularly in Africa.

For decades, U.S. anti-abortion groups have lobbied for more restrictions on abortion at home and abroad. This year, the Trump administration delivered new momentum to the movement exporting “family values” overseas. It announced sweeping restrictions on U.S. funding for organizations that work on abortion-related issues overseas, which can impact up to $30 billion in aid.

These new restrictions build on the work that U.S. anti-abortion groups have been doing for years in Africa, where healthcare systems are highly dependent on foreign funding.

Continued: https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/health/takeaways-from-aps-report-on-the-impact-of-us-aid-restrictions-on-reproductive-rights-in/article_87b5e6cc-67a5-56ad-8310-15c469e2b03f.html

Too young to be mothers: Inside Kenya’s teenage pregnancy crisis

By Mercy Kahenda
12 July 2026

Ruth*, 17, still remembers the fear and uncertainty that gripped her when she discovered she was six weeks pregnant.

The teenager, who lives in Majengo slums, became pregnant after having unprotected sex with a boda boda rider who also earns a living unblocking drainage systems in the neighbourhood. Faced with the possibility of dropping out of school and an uncertain future, she briefly considered terminating the pregnancy.

Her friends, however, warned her about the dangers of unsafe abortion, including severe bleeding, infection and even death. After much reflection, she decided to carry the pregnancy to term.

Continued: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/health/amp/health-science/article/2001552616/too-young-to-be-mothers-inside-kenyas-teenage-pregnancy-crisis

12.07.2026

Commentary

Betty Adera Foundation

Diana Adeya

Douglas Bosire

Enkare Oltau Volunteers Foundation

National Syndemic Diseases Control Council

When choice meets fear: The women navigating Kenya’s abortion maze

Nearly 800,000 abortions occur each year, many unsafe. As one counsellor asks: if we deny a woman safe care and she dies from bleeding while the foetus dies, “who have you saved?”

Friday, July 10, 2026
By Moraa Obiria

The sunshine may soften Nairobi’s chilly, unpredictable weather or brighten the city centre’s newly laid cabro pavements.

But in the heart of one woman, Neema*, nothing can ease the weight she continues to carry, four years on. In 2022, the now 30-year-old woman from Ruaraka Sub-County last her three-year old son. “He had pneumonia,” says a tearful Neema. Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/gender/when-choice-meets-fear-the-women-navigating-kenya-s-abortion-maze--5521556

Kenya’s abortion taboo is killing thousands of women

Nairobi (AFP) – Kenya has one of the highest abortion rates in the world, yet US and religious pressure means the government is afraid of discussing the issue -- a combination that causes thousands of maternal deaths, according to figures from the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC).

July 3, 2026

Abortion is illegal in Kenya, but allowed whenever "the life or health of the mother is in danger" -- a loophole wide enough for hundreds of private clinics to operate legally across the east African country.

But it remains taboo for many in the religiously conservative society, and the government refuses to even count how many abortions occur.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260703-kenya-s-abortion-taboo-is-killing-thousands-of-women

Kenya – Kiambu Tragedy Exposes the Deadly Reality of Underground Abortions

A 35-year-old woman has been found dead alongside a foetus in Kiambu, sparking a police investigation. The implications for public health are staggering.

Jun 1, 2026

Detectives in Kiambu East Subcounty have launched a homicide investigation after a 35-year-old woman was discovered dead in her home alongside a foetus, an incident that has cast a grim spotlight on the region’s underground reproductive health crisis. The discovery was made on the morning of May 30 after a concerned tenant noticed an unlocked door and alerted the landlord. Officers responding to the scene found the deceased in a pool of blood, with the foetus still attached to the placenta, pointing to a suspected botched abortion.

The circumstances surrounding the tragic demise remain under intense police scrutiny, but the gruesome scene has reignited national debates regarding maternal mortality and the desperate measures women undertake in the absence of accessible reproductive healthcare. The body has since been transferred to the Kiambu Level 5 Hospital Mortuary, where government pathologists are scheduled to conduct a post-mortem examination. Authorities maintain that the autopsy will provide conclusive evidence on the exact cause of death and assist in identifying any unregulated medical practitioners who may have facilitated the procedure.

Continued: https://streamlinefeed.co.ke/news/kiambu-tragedy-exposes-the-deadly-reality-of-underground-abortions

01.06.2026