Reform of the Angolan criminal code, voted on during the initial reading last month, included a draft bill aimed at suppressing abortion (see Angola reforms its abortion law). On Thursday, the chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the party currently in power, which holds the absolute MP majority, announced that the final vote on the bill, initially set for 23 March, had been postponed. No new date has been set.
The bill which seeks to allow abortion only when the mother’s life is in jeopardy or following rape, and punishes abortion in other circumstances with a 10-year prison sentence, has fuelled controversy.
There are plans to carry out “another public consultation to ensure that the final bill gives more of a consensus”.
AFP (17/03/2017)