Women unjustly arrested, incarcerated without legal representation over abortions in Senegal, documentary reveals

Abortion-related charges in the country accounted for 23% of women behind bars.

Ambali Abdulkabeer
March 24, 2026

A comprehensive documentary has revealed how several women in Senegal are being unjustly arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated for engaging in abortions regardless of the circumstances.

The documentary, which was produced by Afya na Haki (Ahaki), an Uganda-based non-profit organisation focused on advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights in Africa, in partnership with the African Institute for Investigative Journalism and Litigating Reproductive Justice in Africa, probed into abortion-related prosecutions in the country, highlighting the broader realities confronting women under Senegalese restrictive abortion laws.

Continued: https://gazettengr.com/women-unjustly-arrested-incarcerated-without-legal-representation-over-abortions-in-senegal-documentary-reveals/

25.03.2026

Film, Art, Books

Abibatou Samb

African Institute for Investigative Journalism

Afya na Haki

Litigating Reproductive Justice in Africa

I want everyone to be free’: A midwife’s fight for women’s bodily autonomy in Chad

Martine Ngaina was arrested for helping a woman access contraception without a husband’s approval—and she kept fighting

March 17, 2026
Ipas

Martine Naigna has spent the last 15 years working as a midwife in Chad’s toughest humanitarian settings—alongside refugee and nomadic communities, including in remote desert areas—to help meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of women and girls who are often the most marginalized and least served by the health system in times of crises.

Now a health systems advisor with Ipas in Chad, she has built her career in a landscape where abortion is legally restricted and where patriarchal norms and systemic barriers have historically cost women their lives. Her advocacy was born of a singular, mounting frustration: witnessing preventable and needless maternal and child deaths because women lacked the autonomy to make decisions about their own bodies.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/midwife-fight-bodily-autonomy-chad/

From Criminalization to Constitutional Clarity: A Defining Moment for Reproductive Rights in Africa

March 11, 2026

Across Africa, a series of transformative legal and policy wins signal a clear regional trajectory–the recognition of reproductive healthcare as a constitutional and human right, not a political or socioeconomic privilege.

From Rwanda to Zambia, Kenya to Malawi to Nigeria, courts and parliaments are reaffirming the message that women and girls must not be punished for exercising their reproductive rights, or denied the care they need.

But what makes these transformations different is not simply the number of legal wins–it is the clarity they provide. Across diverse legal systems and political contexts, the message is becoming harder to ignore: reproductive rights are enforceable rights grounded in constitutional guarantees, and inseparable from dignity, equality, and the right to health for all women and girls in Africa.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/news/a-defining-moment-for-reproductive-rights-in-africa/

Kenya – OPINION: Women’s month and the silent crisis of unsafe abortion

Many Kenyan women and girls are still negotiating their bodily autonomy in fear, confusion, and silence.

by KELVIN MOKAYA
6 March 2026

March invites us to celebrate women. It calls us to reflect on progress made, to name injustices that persist, and to recommit ourselves to a future anchored in dignity and equality. In Kenya, Women’s Month often comes with colorful events, inspiring hashtags, and powerful speeches about empowerment. Yet beneath the celebration lies a quieter, more uncomfortable truth. Many Kenyan women and girls are still negotiating their bodily autonomy in fear, confusion, and silence.

This month, as we mark International Women’s Day, we must confront a pressing thematic concern that sits at the heart of sexual and reproductive health and rights in Kenya: the growing confusion, stigma, and systemic barriers surrounding access to safe abortion, despite constitutional guarantees.

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/opinion/2026-03-06-opinion-womens-month-and-the-silent-crisis-of-unsafe-abortion

06.03.2026

Opinion

International Women's Day

Kelvin Mokaya

Know Your Rights Own Your Choices

Maputo Protocol

maternal morbidity and mortality

safe abortion guidelines

sexual and reproductive health and rights

The Geneva Consensus, Maputo Protocol and Tanzania’s silent crisis

Anthony Tambwe
Feb 23, 2025

DAR ES SALAAM: IN October 2020, a coalition of countries led by the United States under President Donald Trump unveiled the Geneva Consensus Declaration on Promoting Women’s Health and Strengthening the Family.

Though non-binding, the declaration sent a powerful political message…. ‘abortion should not be recognised as an international right and should not be promoted as a method of family planning’.

It reaffirmed national sovereignty over abortion laws and emphasised the inherent dignity of human life.

Continued: https://dailynews.co.tz/the-geneva-consensus-maputo-protocol-and-tanzanias-silent-crisis/

23.02.2026

Commentary

anti-choice hypocrisy

anti-choice misogyny

Dr Ahmed Makuwani

Geneva Consensus Declaration

Maputo Protocol

Mathew Mwaimu

Tanzania Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance

Africa region: Reservations to the Maputo Protocol undermine protection of women’s health and reproductive rights

10 Feb 2026

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has called for the withdrawal of reservations by Algeria, Cameroon, Kenya and Uganda to article 14 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol).

The call came in a submission to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) on the 28th of January 2026 in response to the ACHPR call for inputs on a draft Advocacy Framework .

Article 14 of the Maputo Protocol, guarantees women’s right to health, including sexual and reproductive health, and obliges States to authorize medical abortion in limited circumstances.

Continued: https://www.icj.org/africa-region-reservations-to-the-maputo-protocol-undermine-protection-of-womens-health-and-reproductive-rights/

10.02.2026

Commentary

ACHPR

African Commission on Human and People’s Rights

International Commission of Jurists

Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh

Maputo Protocol

Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

sexual and reproductive health

Africa

Health

Human Rights

Senegal: Where women’s bodies belong to everyone but themselves

The religious argument is often used to justify control over women

By Bowel Diop (translated from French)
27 December 2025

In Senegal, women who are victims of rape can be condemned for trying to take control of their lives by having an abortion.

Like many other African countries, Senegal ratified the Maputo Protocol on December 27, 2004, an African Union treaty that promotes and protects the rights of women and girls across Africa. According to the provisions of Article 14, signatory states must:

Continued: https://globalvoices.org/2025/12/27/senegal-where-womens-bodies-belong-to-everyone-but-themselves/

27.12.2025

Commentary

African Assembly for the Defence of Human Rights

International Federation for Human Rights

Maputo Protocol

patriarchy

rape and abortion

Senegalese League of Human Rights

Are abortion rights at risk as African governments negotiate with US?

As African governments sit down with U.S. negotiators to reshape health partnerships, researchers are warning that abortion access could be caught in the crosshairs.

By Amy Fallon
17 December 2025

A new regional study shows that abortion rights in West and Central Africa often exist in law but not in reality — a disconnect researchers fear could deepen as African governments negotiate new, bilateral health agreements with the United States.

Research, conducted by Rutgers and the Centre de Recherche en Reproduction Humaine et en Démographie, or CERRHUD, found that women and girls in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Cameroon faced barriers in accessing safe abortions, including overlapping systems of law, health care, and social norms, despite the countries ratifying the Maputo Protocol. The protocol is the first international treaty to recognize abortion as a human right under certain circumstances.

Continued: https://www.devex.com/news/are-abortion-rights-at-risk-as-african-governments-negotiate-with-us-111565

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/

Ipas Tasks Journalists, Others On Awareness About Dangers Of Unsafe Abortion

by Chibuzor Emejor
December 8, 2025

Ipas Nigeria Health Foundation, has tasked journalists, civil society organisations and content creators to intensify awareness on the dangers associated with unsafe abortions among women and girls in Nigeria.

Dr.Lucky Palmer,Country Director, Ipas Nigeria Health Foundation, gave the task at a three-day Media Training on Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, organised for journalists, civil society groups,content creators in Keffi, Nasarawa State.

Continued: https://independent.ng/ipas-tasks-journalists-others-on-awareness-about-dangers-of-unsafe-abortion/

08.12.2025