Abortion Rights

 

     Africa, Asian, and Latin America are a checkerboard of laws in terms of abortion. In Africa, cultural stereotypes and discrimination against women have made laws restricting abortion among the harshest in the world.

     Most African countries still have requirements regarding risk to a woman's life and health, risk of fetal impairment, rape, or socioeconomic factors. However, progress is being made. 

     Tunisia legalized it on request in 1973, Cabo Verde in 1986, South Africa in 1997, Sao Tome y Principe in 2012, and Mozambique in 2015. The pace of legalization or lifting of restrictions has become quicker, and, as progress is made on women's justice as a whole, abortion WILL be legalized in Africa.

     So too, however, will abortion assist in women's rights by granting them equality in access to healthcare, one of the many issues women in the continent face.

     While Africa must remain a major focus of women's rights and reproductive health rights, progress has been and will continue being made.