Western ‘family values’ rhetoric undermines ubuntu and reproductive justice for all in Africa

After commemorating International Human Rights Day on 10 December, a look at how Western-influenced right-wing movements are gaining traction in Africa and are using so-called traditional family values to undermine sexual and reproductive health rights and LGBTQIA+ rights.

By Sesona Buyeye and Duduetsang Mmeti
16 Dec 2025

Across the world, right-wing movements – often cloaked in the language of “moral and religious preservation” and “anti-wokeness” – are pushing back against progressive human rights advancing reproductive freedoms for women, girls and queer people.

Alarmingly, these movements are also gaining traction across parts of Africa, where significant strides have been made in embracing democracy, advancing constitutionalism and advocating non-racialism and reproductive freedoms in the post-colonial era.

Continued: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-12-16-western-family-values-rhetoric-undermineines-ubuntu-and-reproductive-justice-for/


Faroe Islands scraps one of Europe’s strictest abortion laws

Dec 4, 2025
Adrienne Murray

The parliament of the Faroe Islands voted on Thursday to legalise abortion until the end of the 12th week of pregnancy, overturning a decades-old law that prohibited abortions in most cases.

Previous legislation allowed abortions only in certain circumstances - such as rape, incest or risk to the health of the pregnant woman - and meant the self-governing Danish territory had among the most restrictive abortion policies in Europe.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyd8j71m7mo


Nigeria – Changing The Narrative: How Lagos Is Reimaging Abortion Care Through Empathy & Evidence

October 17, 2025
CYRIACUS IZUEKWE

In the vibrant, ever-changing city of Lagos, Nigeria, discussions about reproductive health are evolving. For decades, abortion has remained hidden behind silence, stigma, and misinformation, often leaving women feeling isolated, uninformed, and vulnerable. However, a new wave of advocacy, led by the Leadership Initiative for Youth Empowerment (LIFE), is challenging these false stories and pushing for a more compassionate, fact-based approach to abortion care.

This isn’t just about correcting facts; it’s about changing hearts, rebuilding trust, and ensuring that every woman who walks into a clinic is met with dignity, not judgment.

Continued: https://pmexpressng.com/changing-the-narrative-how-lagos-is-reimaging-abortion-care-through-empathy-evidence/


Kenya – Rights Groups urge Ruto to decriminalise safe abortion

The lobbyists also pointed to the Maputo Protocol, which explicitly recognises abortion as a right

by GEORGE OWITI, Nairobi
29 September 2025

Human rights lobby groups have called on President William Ruto’s administration to decriminalize safe abortion in Kenya, citing rising numbers of unsafe procedures and maternal deaths.

The African Civil Society Organizations, including the Centre for Reproductive Rights, SUPERB, FIDA Kenya, Women Collective Kenya, Women’s Probono Initiative, Reproductive Health Network Kenya and Health Development Initiative, issued the call during this year’s International Safe Abortion Day on Sunday.

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/counties/nairobi/2025-09-29-rights-groups-urge-ruto-to-decriminalise-safe-abortion


Nigeria – Stakeholders pledge adequate dissemination of STOP guidelines in Akwa Ibom

September 17, 2025
by Lovina Anthony

Stakeholders from Ministries of Health, Education, Justice and Women Affairs in Akwa Ibom State have pledged to ensure full sensitization and dissemination of Safe Termination Of Pregnancy, STOP, guidelines in the state.

Akwa Ibom is one of the six states in Nigeria that have adopted and domesticated the STOP guidelines.

However, a report by the observatory team earlier trained by Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center, WARDC, to raise awareness on the STOP guidelines showed that many women and health workers in Akwa Ibom are not aware of the initiative.

Continued: https://dailypost.ng/2025/09/17/stakeholders-pledge-adequate-dissemination-of-stop-guidelines-in-akwa-ibom/


Kenya – Raising a child I never wanted — a product of sexual assault

Catherine and her child's relationship is strained, defined by poverty and the woman’s unresolved grief

Tuesday, November 19, 2024
By Tebby Otieno

On a cold Friday evening, Catherine (name changed to protect her identity) sits in her modest mud house, wrapped in a heavy Maasai kikoi and a frayed thread cap covering her head. A long dress falls over her legs, concealing the black socks and rubber shoes she keeps pulling up to fight the cold.

The house, in her telling, bears scars of time and the previous night’s heavy downpour. A gaping hole in the roof reminds her of the six months’ rent she owes her landlord—a debt she can’t afford to clear.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/health/raising-a-child-i-never-wanted-a-product-of-sexual-assault-4827678


Kenya – Haunted by abortion, failed by policymakers

Thousands of women are dying every year in Kenya due to botched backstreet abortions.

Monday, September 30, 2024
By Hellen Shikanda

As we drive along the backstreets of Kibra slums in Nairobi, there are shoes dangling on power lines every few metres. Everyone has their theory as to what that signifies; one of those being that the shoes are mementos for people who died along those streets. The further we drive, the more we encounter them.

While the crammed houses and uninviting narrow alleys between them exude gloomy conditions, there is a visible sense of vibrancy in the people when they are outside.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/health/haunted-by-abortion-failed-by-policymakers-4777778


Kenya – Evelyne Opondo is championing change

Sunday, September 08, 2024
By Wanja Mbuthia, Nation Media Group

Talking with the soft-spoken Evelyne Opondo feels like chatting with a big sister in many ways. She’s warm and laughs easily. She is a great listener too, who thinks through every question before answering and projects an air of a trustworthy and dependable person. A lawyer, Ms Opondo is the Africa Director at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), where she leads the organisation’s strategies and mission in Africa. Seated at an eatery in Nairobi’s Kileleshwa area, she reflects on the challenges, accomplishments, and lessons she has gathered from over two decades of advocating for the rights of women and girls.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/evelyne-opondo-is-championing-change--4752200


Malawi – Sexual reproductive health, abortion rights discussed in Salima

By Amelia Jones
July 11, 2024

Malawi Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Alliance has asked the faith-based and traditional leaders of Salima to partner with them. The aim of the collaboration is to fight for communities to get access to Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) and safe abortions.

They implored Salima-based traditional and faith-based leaders  to promote access to safe abortion. Youth Programme Coordinator at Malawi Health Alliance, Gertrude Kapyepye reflected on the importance of the issue.

Continued: https://newsinvasion24.com/sexual-reproductive-health-abortion-rights-discussed-in-salima/


Andorra: Acquittal of activist who raised concerns about total abortion ban at a UN meeting “an important victory”

Amnesty International
Jan 17, 2024

The acquittal of abortion rights activist, Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, on defamation charges is an important victory but she should never have been charged in the first place, said Amnesty International following a court decision today.

In a joint public statement with the Centre for Reproductive Rights, Women’s Link Worldwide and Front Line Defenders the organisations welcome today’s decision acquitting Vanessa Mendoza Cortés and remind the authorities that she should face no further intimidation or reprisals for carrying out her important and legitimate human rights work.

Continued:https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/01/andorra-acquittal-of-activist-who-raised-concerns-about-total-abortion-ban-at-a-un-meeting-an-important-victory/