Kenya’s high court has ruled that rape survivors have the right to abortion in landmark case.
Written by The Irish Times
Kenya’s high court ruled, on Wednesday, that rape survivors had the right to an abortion, as it ordered authorities to pay the equivalent of €26,000 in damages to the mother of a teenage victim who died after a botched abortion.
The landmark ruling in a country where abortion is illegal in most cases was in response to a petition filed by the mother, whose daughter – known by her initials JMM to protect her identity – became pregnant after she was raped in 2014 aged 15.
She had a backstreet abortion, leaving her with injuries that eventually led to her death last year.
JMM’s mother, along with the Federation of Women Lawyers, filed a petition in 2015 claiming authorities failed to provide her daughter with proper post-abortion care, and called on the government to implement measures for access to safe abortions.
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