ZIMBABWE – Uptake of post-abortion care still low despite Government efforts

November 28, 2025
Tendai Gukutikwa

GOVERNMENT has been applauded for making progress in ensuring that post-abortion care is available at designated health facilities.

However, uptake remains worryingly low, with experts warning that thousands of women continue to suffer complications in silence due to stigma, fear, misinformation and cultural barriers that push them away from lifesaving treatment.

In an interview on the sidelines of a media training, Women’s Action Group programme officer, Ms Vimbai Nyika said the availability of care is an important step in safeguarding women’s health, but misconceptions around abortion and community attitudes are still discouraging women from seeking help.

Continued: https://www.heraldonline.co.zw/uptake-of-post-abortion-care-still-low-despite-government-efforts/

28.11.2025

News

post-abortion care

Termination of Pregnancy Act

It’s women’s rights versus religion in Malawi abortion fight

Privilege Musvanhiri
Nov 6, 2025

Until recently, abortion in Malawi was only permitted when a woman's life was in danger. But, recently, the country's High Court ruled that survivors of sexual violence who end up pregnant are entitled to the procedure.

According to Malawi's Gender Equality Law, every person has the right to adequate sexual and reproductive health and, subject to the law, the right to choose whether or not to have a child.

For more than 15 years, women's rights organizations have lobbied for a Termination of Pregnancy Bill. Although a draft bill exists, it has yet to be tabled in parliament.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/its-womens-rights-versus-religion-in-malawi-abortion-fight/a-74576001

Nigeria’s Proposed Abortion Law: A Step Backward in a Public Health Crisis

By Shalom Tewobola
Nov 2, 2025

In a country where an estimated 1.25 million unsafe abortions occur annually, Nigeria’s Senate is considering legislation that would make a dire situation catastrophic. The Criminal Code Amendment Bill 2025, which recently came before the Senate for concurrence, proposes a ten-year jail term for anyone supplying drugs or instruments to procure abortions. This represents more than a threefold increase from the current three-year penalty. But as confusion erupted among lawmakers over the bill’s vague language during Tuesday’s plenary session, a more fundamental question emerged: are we criminalizing healthcare itself?

Senate President Godswill Akpabio suspended consideration of the bill and referred it to the Committee on Judiciary and Legal Matters after senators couldn’t agree on what constitutes an “unlawful abortion.” When lawmakers themselves cannot determine the boundary between criminal acts and medical care, how can doctors be expected to navigate these waters while a patient hemorrhages before them?

Continued: https://culturecustodian.com/nigerias-proposed-abortion-law-a-step-backward-in-a-public-health-crisis/

Behind the curtains: Inside Nigeria’s shadow network of abortion care

October 26, 2025
BY AYOMIDE LADIPO

The World Health Organisation recognises abortion as an essential health service to meet the global sustainable development goals. However, in 74 countries across the world, including Nigeria, abortion is illegal, with varying levels of punishment, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. Abortion is completely prohibited in 24 countries, while in 50 others, termination of pregnancy is only permitted when the woman’s health is at risk.

In Nigeria, abortion is illegal and carries a jail sentence of up to 14 years, unless done to save the life of the pregnant woman, which means post-abortion care is legal. In the Constitution, the Criminal Code Sections 228-230 and Penal Code Sections 232 & 233 criminalise abortion for all parties involved, including the medical personnel, with a jail time of up to 14 years, while Section 297 of the Criminal Code allows for abortion to be done to preserve the mother’s life.

Continued: https://www.thecable.ng/behind-the-curtains-inside-nigerias-shadow-network-of-abortion-care/

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/

17.10.2025

Commentary

Bamidele Abiodun

Centre for Reproductive Rights

Leadership Initiative for Youth Empowerment

post-abortion care

STOP guidelines for abortion

Strengthening Midwifery and Sexual & Reproductive Health in Sierra Leone

10 September 2025
International Confederation of Midwives

Midwife advisors from the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) recently travelled to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to work alongside the Sierra Leone Midwifery Association (SLMA) as part of the Collaborate for Women (C4W) Abortion and Contraception care Together (ACCT) initiative. Their visit marked the beginning of a series of capacity-building workshops designed to promote the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls, in line with Competency 2 of the Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice.

Over three days, 31 participants, including midwifery educators and clinical midwives, gathered to strengthen their clinical skills and understanding of rights-based care. Many had travelled long distances from remote rural provinces, where they are often the only skilled providers available. While already experienced in delivering essential services, they were eager to strengthen their capacity to provide family planning (FP) and Post-abortion Care (PAC) services and protect women’s autonomy, privacy, and confidentiality, and to ensure that care is always based on free and informed consent.

Continued: https://internationalmidwives.org/strengthening-midwifery-and-sexual-reproductive-health-in-sierra-leone/

10.09.2025

Commentary

Collaborate for women: Abortion and Contraception Care Together

Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice

International Confederation of Midwives

midwives and abortion

Offences Against the Person Act of 1861

post-abortion care

Sierra Leone Midwifery Association

Kenya – Broken girls who bleed alone and nurses who pick up the pieces

CS Duale acknowledges emotional burden on PAC providers.

by NANCY AGUTU
04 August 2025

It is early morning in Rabuor, Kisumu county. Buses honk as they rumble past and hawkers line the roadside, offering hot tea and snacks to the day’s first customers. Birds chirp overhead, a hopeful sign of a day meant to bring good fortune.

But for the women arriving quietly at a local hospital, and for the nurses preparing their tools, the day carried a far more sobering task: the delicate, often overlooked work of providing post-abortion care.

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/big-read/2025-08-04-broken-girls-who-bleed-alone-and-nurses-who-pick-up-the-pieces#google_vignette

04.08.2025

Commentary

Aden Duale

African Population and Health Research Centre

Emily Omedo

Fred Oluoch

Kenneth Juma

Maternal Newborn Health Quality of Care Standards

Malta – Government considering preventing doctors from reporting women who had abortions

Prime Minister Robert Abela was speaking on ONE Radio a few days after a woman was handed a 22-month prison sentence suspended for two years after having an abortion

2 August 2025
by Matthew Farrugia

Government is considering changes to the Professional Secrecy Act to ensure that doctors don’t report women seeking post-abortion medical care without their explicit consent.

Abela was speaking on ONE Radio a few days after a woman was handed a 22-month prison sentence suspended for two years after having an abortion.

Continued: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/136294/government_considering_preventing_doctors_from_reporting_women_who_had_abortions

03.08.2025

News

doctors reporting patients for abortion

Joseph Muscat

post-abortion care

Professional Secrecy Act

Seeking care post-abortion agonises in Kenya, Tanzania

Restrictive abortion laws inflict deadly cost on fearful patients

by Nelly Madegwa and Rehema Mpemba
24 July 2025

In a small clinic on the outskirts of Nairobi, a young woman lies unconscious on a hospital bed, her body weakened by severe bleeding. Two days earlier, she had taken pills from an unlicensed chemist in a desperate attempt to terminate her pregnancy.

In Dar es Salaam, another woman fights for her life after consuming a dangerous herbal mixture meant to induce abortion.

Their stories are not unique. They represent thousands of women across Kenya and Tanzania who risk their lives each year due to restrictive abortion laws that push them towards unsafe procedures.

Despite both countries signing the Maputo Protocol, a treaty advocating for reproductive rights, Kenya and Tanzania continue to criminalise abortion, creating a paradox where women are denied safe healthcare even when their lives are at risk.

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/big-read/2025-07-24-seeking-care-post-abortion-agonises-in-kenya-tanzania

Uganda – Health ministry, activists at odds as abortion debate reignites after Monitor story

Monday, July 14, 2025

By SYLVIA NAMAGEMBE

Dr Richard Mugahi, the commissioner for Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health at the Ministry, said health workers who discriminate against women in need of post-abortion care go against the professional code of conduct and will be held accountable.

Continued; https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/health-ministry-activists-at-odds-as-abortion-debate-reignites--5117348

14.07.2025