Kenyan flag featuring a running shoe, representing Kenya’s success in athletics and record-breaking performances in long-distance running.
In a major legal reversal, a Kenyan appeals court has ruled that access to abortion is not a constitutionally guaranteed right. The decision overturns a 2022 High Court ruling that had sought to protect patients and doctors from prosecution, specifically in the case of a 16-year-old girl and her clinician who were arrested in 2019. While the 2010 Constitution allows abortion when the mother’s health is in danger, the appeals court emphasized that the right to life starts at conception and that the practice remains generally prohibited. The ruling has sparked outrage among reproductive rights groups, who point to the hundreds of thousands of induced abortions in Kenya annually and warn that this decision will drive more women toward dangerous backstreet clinics.
Le Monde