Thousands of women lose their lives every year in Kenya to botched backstreet abortions. Rising cases are now colliding with legal uncertainty as courts redefine reproductive rights protections.
By Moraa Obiria
Saturday, May 02, 2026
What you need to know:
A landmark abortion case in Kenya now raises new fears over prosecution and access to care.
Court ruling shifts legal burden to women and providers navigating restrictive abortion laws in Kenya.
Kenyan ‘pro-lifers’ celebrate recriminalisation of abortion while staying silent on country’s preventable deaths
By Betty Kabari
April 30, 2026
The right to life in Kenya is often treated as if it begins at conception and ends at birth. As in much of the world, self-described ‘pro-lifers’ claim to defend life at all costs – yet too often stop short of defending the lives already being lived, and those cut short too early.
Last week, a Kenyan Court of Appeal effectively recriminalised abortion by overturning a 2022 High Court ruling that recognised abortion as a constitutional right. The decision comes one month after Kenyan Christian groups held the ‘March for Life 2026’ through the streets of Nairobi.
Reproductive rights advocates warn that the ruling spells grave danger for both doctors and pregnant women, thousands of whom die of unsafe abortions every year in Kenya.
April 27, 2026
by Pavan Kulkarni
Advocates for reproductive rights in Kenya, where thousands die every year of complications due to unsafe abortion, expressed outraged at the ruling on April 24 by the Court of Appeal in the town of Malindi. The court overturned a 2022 High Court ruling and recriminalized abortion.
The 2022 decision held that abortion is a constitutional right, but the appellate court ruled that this was an incorrect interpretation. The constitution adopted by Kenya in 2010 allowed for abortion if “there is a need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger.” It has, however, remained criminalized in practice for over a decade as the colonial-era penal code has not been amended to reflect this.
Continued: https://peoplesdispatch.org/2026/04/27/kenyan-court-recriminalizes-abortion/
April 24, 2026
Center for Reproductive Rights
In a deeply disappointing decision, the Court of Appeal in Malindi has today delivered its judgment in Civil Appeal No. E029 and E030 of 2022, setting aside the High Court’s decision in Malindi Petition No. E009 of 2020 and reinstating criminal proceedings against a young woman and a healthcare provider.
In September 2019, *PAK, a 16 -year-old girl in Kilifi County, experienced pregnancy complications, including severe abdominal pain, dizziness and vaginal bleeding. She went to a clinic where a trained clinical officer, Salim Mohammed, examined her, and determined she had lost the pregnancy, and provided emergency post -abortion care. The Police arrested both PAK and Mohammed, a licensed healthcare professional and detained them. PAK was arrested from her hospital bed and detained her at Ganze Police Patrol Base for two nights, without medical care. A few days later, police officers stormed the clinic and seized PAK’s medical records and forced her to undergo a medical examination against her will. The Police also compelled PAK to sign a statement that did not reflect her account of events, and she was remanded at Malindi Juvenile Remand Prison for over a month.
Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/news/court-of-appeal-malindi-decision/
Anti-rights groups seek to overturn a 2019 judgment in the case of a 14-year-old girl who died as a result of an unsafe abortion in Kenya.
Center for Reproductive Rights
June 10, 2025
In 2019, the High Court of Kenya affirmed that the Kenyan Constitution guarantees survivors of sexual violence access to safe and legal abortion care. The historic decision came in a case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners on behalf of the family of JMM, a 14-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted, became pregnant, and died from complications of an unsafe abortion.
The Center is expected to be at the Kenya Court of Appeal in the coming weeks to defend that judgment from anti-rights groups that are asking the Court to overturn it. In appealing the High Court’s decision in the case, FIDA-Kenya and others v. Attorney General and others, the Kenyan Christian Professional Forum and the Kenya Attorney General argue that abortion is not a constitutional right.
Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/jmm-fida-appeal-abortion-kenya/
Facebook
Google+
Twitter
LinkedIn