Nairobi, 17 August, 2019 / 12:24 am (ACI Africa).
Kenya's High Court ruled Wednesday that rape victims whose pregnancy threatens their life or health have a right to procure abortion.
The June 12 ruling regarded a case brought on b ehalf of a young woman who died in June 2018 from complications related to a back-alley abortion she procured in 2014.
"Pregnancy resulting from rape or defilement, if in the opinion of a trained medical profession poses a danger to life or the health - that is physical, mental and social well-being of the mother – maybe terminated under ... sections of the constitution," said Justice Aggrey Muchelule, the Thompson Reuters Foundation reported.
The Standard, a Nairobi daily, reported that the judges ruled: “The apparent blanket prohibition of abortion in the penal code cannot stand while the Constitution gives the right to a woman to abort when their life and health are in danger.”
The 2010 Kenyan constitution made abortion legal in certain circumstances – in the cases of emergencies and when the woman’s health is in jeopardy.