Center to Defend Landmark Decision in Kenya Guaranteeing Abortion Access for Survivors of Sexual Violence

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/

10.06.2025

Commentary

Center for Reproductive Rights

High Court of Kenya

JMM

Kenya Court of Appeal

Kenyan Christian Professional Forum

Martin Onyango

Salima Namusobya

Standards and Guidelines for Reducing Morbidity and Mortality from Unsafe Abortion in Kenya

Kenya – Health experts warn restrictive policy will drive more women toward unsafe abortions

Unsafe abortions, driven by restrictive laws and pervasive stigma, continue to claim lives and destroy futures.

Monday, February 10, 2025
By Angeline Ochieng

A few hours after leaving a herbalist's house, Mercy* started experiencing strong abdominal pains. A sudden, hot rush of a warm liquid running down Mercy's inner thighs startled her. To her shock, she noticed blood flow.

The 16-year-old felt a little relieved. Hours earlier, she had been a guest of the herbalist, and she knew for certain these were after-effects of the unsafe abortion procedure she had undergone in the company of a friend at her rural home in Bungoma.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/health/health-experts-warn-restrictive-policy-will-drive-more-women-toward-unsafe-abortions--4921212

Trump 2.0 instills fear in African abortion activists

Nita Bhalla
Jan 27, 2025

NAIROBI - African health activists fear a new crackdown on abortion across Africa after President Donald Trump reinstated an anti-abortion pact that cuts off U.S. funds to foreign charities that provide or promote abortions.

When Trump signed the Mexico City Policy, or "global gag rule", during his first term some African charities were forced to close, denying women safe abortions. It also emboldened local opposition to women's reproductive choice.

Continued: https://www.context.news/socioeconomic-inclusion/trump-20-instills-fear-in-african-abortion-activists

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

19.11.2024

Commentary

Centre for Reproductive Rights

Dr Fridah Kameti

Martin Onyango

post-traumatic stress disorder

Why the American abortion debate is affecting access in Kenya

Oct 31, 2024
By Neha Wadekar, Joe Mwihia, Job Wander, Associated Press
Video: 8:42 minutes (with transcript)

Abortion is a closely watched issue in this year's election, and not just in the U.S. As president, Trump cut funding for international groups that offer and counsel on abortion services. With support from The Pulitzer Center, special correspondent Neha Wadekar reports from Kenya where advocates are watching for who wins. A warning, this story contains accounts of sexual and gender-based violence.

Continued: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-the-american-abortion-debate-is-affecting-access-in-kenya

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

30.09.2024

Commentary

Centre for Reproductive Rights

Hellen Shikanda

International Safe Abortion Day

Joachim Osur

Martin Onyango

National Reproductive Health Policy

Nelly Munyasia

Reproductive Health Network Kenya

Yes, you can legally get an abortion in Kenya

Monday, October 09, 2023

Samson Mwita, a clinical officer, was in the middle of an abortion procedure at Mwera Medical Centre in Eastlands, Nairobi, when police officers burst into the operating room.

“The patient I was operating on was a minor of 16 years who had been defiled. Since she was in her second trimester, I had initiated an induction but the police officers interrupted me. They stopped the procedure and told me that what I was doing was against the law,” Mr Mwita tells Nation.Africa.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/gender/yes-you-can-legally-get-abortion-in-kenya-4394734

09.10.2023

News

International Safe Abortion Day

Martin Onyango

Mwera Medical Centre

Nelly Minyasia

Reproductive Health Network Kenya

Under attack, global sexual health ‘can’t rely on US’

by SciDev.Net
July 25, 2022

Religious campaigns and political interference could threaten hard-won reproductive health rights in the global South in the wake of the US Supreme Court decision on abortion, health advocates fear.

Cross-border solidarity and coordination will be needed to face down the growing global threat to reproductive rights, health and policy experts have told SciDev.Net.

Continued: https://yubanet.com/world/under-attack-global-sexual-health-cant-rely-on-us/

Under attack, global sexual health ‘can’t rely on US’

July 20, 2022
By: Fiona Broom

Religious campaigns and political interference could threaten hard-won reproductive health rights in the global South in the wake of the US Supreme Court decision on abortion, health advocates fear.

Cross-border solidarity and coordination will be needed to face down the growing global threat to reproductive rights, health and policy experts have told SciDev.Net.

Continued: https://www.scidev.net/global/features/under-attack-global-sexual-health-cant-rely-on-us/

Kenya On Course In Post-Abortion Care Guidelines, To Deliver Life-Saving Care

By MUTHONI WAWERU
March 22, 2022

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 22 – Acting Director-General for Health Dr. Patrick Amoth says adequate measures on Post-Abortion Care (PAC) guidelines as well as capacity building in all counties, to be able to bring health care workers to speed on the quality of abortion care.

Abortion in Kenya is illegal but is permitted under specified circumstances, including danger to the life and health of the expectant mother and rape.

Continued: https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2022/03/kenya-on-course-in-post-abortion-care-guidelines-to-deliver-life-saving-care/