On 7 July in Geneva, experts on the United Nations Committee examined the implementation by Senegal of the United Nations Convention with specific reference to the “elimination of all forms of discrimination against women”.
Following this enquiry, they “expressed their concerns” and made recommendations in early August: the UN (United Nations) “urges Senegal to review its legislation in order to decriminalise abortion and authorise it legally in cases where the pregnant woman’s life is in jeopardy, following rape or incest and in the presence of a serious foetal deficiency”. In their conclusions, experts also deplored the lack of access to contraception”.
In Senegal, abortion is currently banned and punished by the Penal Code except in cases where the mother’s life is in “serious danger”. The International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (IFHR) has already reproached Senegal on several occasions about “the restrictive conditions under which abortion is authorised in that country” which “jeopardise the life and health” of women.
Note from Gènéthique: Yesterday, the C-Fam (Centre for Family and Human Rights) deplored similar WHO recommendations to deal with “the shortage of abortionists”. It quoted a Chilean study to show that “an improvement in maternal health and a reduction in the maternal mortality rate requires neither the expansion of abortion practices nor the recruitment of a larger group of abortionists to compete with the illegal market”, but instead calls for an “improvement in its health infrastructure and adequate medical staff” coupled with better education for women.
News Press (10/08/2015)