Abortion rights in Kenya

The Head Heeb has a fascinating post about a feminist politiican in Kenya who caused a controversy by advocating abortion rights. You’d think abortion rights would be just sensible in a country where 5,000 women and girls die each year from botched, illegal abortions – but unfortunately, evangelical Christianity is a powerful force in Kenyan politics.

I thought this comment on the situation, by the head of the African Alliance for Women’s Reproductive Health and Rights, was interesting for drawing a relationship between abortion rights and colonialism:

Brookman-Amissah said in countries with liberal abortion laws, few women die from unsafe operations. “By contrast, African countries have excessively restrictive abortion laws, all inherited from colonial powers who have since changed their laws thus offering their own women wider choices,” she said.

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