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.
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/
A landmark court case could help activists seeking to revise Kenya's reproductive health policy.
Munyaradzi Makoni
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00693-6
WORLD REPORT| VOLUME 399, ISSUE 10334, P1456, APRIL 16, 2022.
The roll-out of a policy to promote and improve the reproductive health of
Kenyans has been suspended following protests from activists calling for
protection for patients who seek abortion services and the medical personnel
who provide them. On April 6, the Ministry of Health said that a new draft of
Kenya's Reproductive Health Policy 2022–32, which did not make any provision
for abortion, will be produced within 45 days, with civil society given an
opportunity to propose changes.
The decision follows a ruling on March 25 by Reuben Nyakundi, a High Court
judge in Malindi, who declared abortion-related arrests and prosecution
illegal, concluding that abortion care is a fundamental right under the
Constitution of Kenya, adding that protecting access to abortion affects vital
constitutional values, including dignity, autonomy, equality, and bodily
integrity. Although the Constitution allows it, Kenya's 1963 Penal Code still
criminalises all abortion care.
By Irungu Houghton
Apr 2nd 2022
A policy storm is brewing at just the right time. Last week, women and youth activists took to Nairobi streets to stop the launch of the Health Ministry’s Reproductive Health Policy 2020-2030. Two days later, Malindi High Court Judge Reuben Nyakundi delivered an iconic ruling in favour of women’s right to abortion.
Coming five months before the election of 47+1 administrations, parties, political aspirants, and the public need to pay attention. The nation has fundamentally changed since the Health Ministry first drafted the Reproductive Health Policy (2020-2030) in 2018. For two solid years, Covid-19 subjected women and girls to a double-barrelled threat. Sexual and gender-based violence increased five-fold alongside rising living costs, joblessness and economic distress.
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