Abstract : This issue of Initiatives focuses on the generally restrictive abortion laws in sub-Saharan Africa. It is noted that African women account for at least 34,000 of the total number of female deaths caused by unsafe abortion globally each year. These restrictive abortion laws violate women's rights and, by targeting women uniquely, legal limitations on abortion constitute a form of gender discrimination. The interplay between human and reproductive rights and abortion realities can be seen in the context of the African case studies presented in this issue. These case studies highlight the damaging cycle of women's inequality, in which low social status leads to lack of contraceptive and other preventive health services for women, resulting in unintended pregnancies and utilization of unsafe abortion. Just as human rights are a prerequisite for reproductive freedom and abortion rights for women, the availability of safe abortion services is necessary for full implementation of other rights. Sub-Saharan African women are asserting their reproductive rights to the full extent and sometimes beyond the extent of the law. To support this endeavor, the international community must help to free resources for building the economic and social infrastructures that will make possible the exercise of human rights in the developing world.
Source : Source Popline : http://db.jhuccp.org/popinform/basic.html - PIP 153913.