By Bobor Dan Kamara
A credible source has informed this medium that the Health Ministry has recorded about 90,000 abortion cases in recent years.
This number, the source revealed, amounts to cases reported at various health facilities countrywide.
In 2015, parliament adopted a law entitled ‘the Safe Abortion Act’, but former President Ernest Bai Koroma refused to sign it, saying it should be put to a referendum.
Some human right activists are of the opinion that all women and girls should be able to make choices regarding their bodies and should be given the free will to make informed decision.
Minister of Health Dr. Austin Denny in June 2024 said Sierra Leone was among the countries with the highest mortality rate in the world, with 23% of women deaths being women. He added that they have been able to turn the situation around following the collective efforts of all. “It is appalling for our children to die from preventable deaths,” he stressed.
Sierra Leone’s current abortion law dates back to 1861. It allows the procedure only if the mother’s life is at risk.
The Inter Religious Council at the time forbade the bill on the grounds that it is ungodly and inhuman.
Health authorities estimate that abortions cause around 10 percent of maternal deaths in Sierra Leone.
