Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Anti-abortion movements argue that the practice of abortion was imposed upon Africa by foreign powers. Many women keep abortions secret due to stigma. Medical abortion using misoprostol is available from health providers and pharmacies, and is usually safe. Surgical abortion is regulated by national guidelines in countries with legal abortion.
When Efua, a 25-year-old fashion designer and single mother in Ghana, became pregnant last year, she sought an abortion at a health clinic but worried the procedure might be illegal. Health ...
In Zambia, abortion is legal if the pregnancy would threaten the mother's life or physical or mental health or those of existing children, or if it would cause a birth defect. Zambia has one of the most permissive abortion laws in Africa, though its restrictions limit access. The Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) Act, passed in 1972, legalizes ...
Article 317 of the penal code of Madagascar says women who receive abortions can be punished by 6 months to 2 years of prison or a fine of 2 million ariary.It sentences people who assist in an abortion to 1-5 years of prison and a fine of 360,000 to 10.8 million ariary (€80 to €2,500), or higher for repeat offenders. [1]
More than 20 countries across Africa have loosened restrictions on abortion in recent years, but experts say that like Efua, many women probably don't realize they are entitled to a legal abortion. And despite the expanded legality of the procedure in places like Ghana, Congo, Ethiopia and Mozambique, some doctors and nurses say they've become ...
The risk of unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortions and related deaths increased in many of the affected countries, according to the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights.
In Senegal, abortion is illegal unless the life of the mother is in danger. Senegal is one of the only countries whose criminal code completely bans abortion. An exception requires a medical certificate and the approval of three doctors. Illegal abortion is punishable by fines and prison. Nearly all abortions in the country are unsafe.
Section 16.1 of the penal code of Liberia criminalizes abortion without a legal defense, and Section 16.3 sets the gestational limit at 24 weeks of pregnancy. [1] A 1976 law permits abortion in the cases of rape, incest, risk to the physical or mental health of the mother, or risk to the life of the mother or the fetus. [2]