Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio recently moved for legislation to be approved on the abortion rights of women in the country. Abortion has been illegal in Sierra Leonne since 1861.
On Thursday, President Julius Maada Bio’s cabinet threw support behind a bill on risk-free motherhood, including expanded access to abortion. The bill is expected to be passed by Parliament later this year.
He declared, “At a time when sexual reproductive rights for women are under attack, my government will try again,” alluding to the US Supreme Court’s recent decision to invalidate a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.
According to the UN, Sierra Leone has the highest rate of maternal deaths worldwide, with 1,360 women passing away for every 100,000 live births.
Some think President Maada Bio’s remarks were intended for international audiences. However, Sierra Leone’s minister of communications, Mr. Rahman Swaray, has defended the controversial topic of decriminalizing abortion. Mr. Swaray stressed that the new legislation would be written and presented to parliament and that the president “did not showboat.” Since 1861, abortion has been illegal in Sierra Leonne.
It wasn’t a gimmick, according to Rahman Swaray, and the government meant to approve the legislation. In Freetown, he said to BBC Focus on Africa’s Umaru Fofana, “This is not about appeasing the international community; it’s about tackling important and vital concerns affecting our country.”
He said that unsafe abortions, many of which were performed on teens, were to blame for 14% of deaths of pregnant women. MPs did adopt a measure in 2016 to decriminalize them, but then-President Bai Koroma halted the legislation in response to concerns from religious groups.
