User:Vigilantcosmicpenguin/sandbox/Abortion in Senegal

In Senegal, abortion is illegal unless the life of the mother is in danger.

Legislation
The criminal code of Senegal completely bans abortion. The code of medical ethics allows abortion when it is necessary to save a woman's life. A medical exception requires the approval of three doctors and a medical certificate costing 10,000 CFA francs. Giving advice about accessing abortion is a criminal offense.

Abortion has been illegal since the French period. In 1967, an exception was added allowing abortion if the life of the mother is in danger. The United Nations Population Fund considers Senegal to have one of the strictest abortion laws in Africa.

Debate
In 2004, Senegal was one of the first ratifiers of the Maputo Protocol, which provides a right to abortion in the cases of rape, incest, or danger to the health of the mother or fetus. In 2014, the government formed a group of activists, lawyers, doctors, and MPs to align the penal code with this policy. The Association des Juristes Sénégalaises (AJS), a human rights nonprofit, is part of this task force.

During the presidency of Macky Sall, some supporters of abortion had hoped he would support legalization of abortion, while others were skeptical. In 2015, Sall said he may eventually support legalizing abortion in the cases of rape and incest.

The public largely supports the ban on abortion due to social norms, religious beliefs, and the traditional large family structure. The government is secular yet influenced by powerful religious families. Legislators face pressure from religious leaders to hide support for abortion and fear losing political support. In January 2017, the League of Senegalese Ulama declared a fatwa against politicians supporting legalization. In 2020, only 20 of the 165 members of parliament supported it. Activists then paused activities for a few months. Though some Islamic scholars in Senegal say abortion does not violate Islamic law, few of the prominent Islamic groups oppose anti-abortion movements. The anti-feminist Islamic NGO Jamra campaigns against abortion reform. Jamra has said pro-abortion activists are controlled by Western donors against African values. Health workers have pushed for access to birth control, which is allowed in Islamic law.

Organizations such as AJS and the Dakar-based Open Society Initiative for West Africa try to educate judges and politicians. The Association of Senegalese Women Lawyers (ASWL) has advocated to align Senegal's abortion law with the Maputo Protocol. Since 2008, the ASWL has run a free drop-in center in Dakar that provides advice and trauma counseling and trains paralegals to help provide justice. In 2014, the International Federation for Human Rights, with three other groups, drafted a proposal for a law that would align with the treaty.

Prevalence
In 2015–2019, there were 57,900 abortions in Senegal. Since 1990–1994, the unintended pregnancy had gone down 34%, and the share of unintended pregnancies resulting in abortion went from 17% to 25%. The abortion rate is 17 per 1,000 women, as of 2012. Dakar has the highest rate in the country, at 21 per 1,000 women.

Nearly all abortions in Senegal are unsafe. An estimated 38% by are performed by traditional healers, 21% are self-induced, 20% are by nurses or midwives, and 17% are by doctors. Though abortions by trained health professionals are safer than those that are not, they must work secretly, which increases risk.

Some women induce abortions with plants, chemicals, bleach or wire. This is punishable by a fine of 50,000 to 1,000,000 francs and a prison sentence of six months to two years. A pharmaceutical black market in Dakar's city center, Keur Serigne Bi, is a popular place to buy abortion pills. Customers can buy pills within minutes. Self-induced abortions have become more common since the internet has enabled women to find information about it.

Sixty percent of illegal abortions are done on young women. Some who are unmarried or who were raped feel they have no other solution. Extramarital pregnancy and being raped are viewed as shameful and have caused families to disown their daughters.

About 25% of married women have an unmet need for birth control. Birth control is uncommon as the topic is taboo, some husbands do not allow their wives to use it, and people have misconceptions about negative health effects. Many women are unaware of family planning in Senegal, especially in rural areas. Marie Stopes International (MSI) provides family planning services through mobile clinics, education sessions, and individual discussions. After the Mexico City policy was reinstated in January 2017, MSI and the UNFPA had U.S. funding cut off.

Most women who have abortions experience complications, but 42% of these do not receive care. Complications are more common among rural and poor women. Health centers, district hospitals, and regional hospitals provide most of the country's post-abortion care. Senegal was one of the first countries in the region to decentralize post-abortion care from urban to rural hospitals and is known as the "PAC pioneer of West Africa". Health officials limit the use of the manual vacuum aspiration method, which may be used to induce abortion. Many PAC providers instead use methods such as digital curettage, using the fingers, a practice condemned by the WHO. Despite PAC being legal, some women who seek it get reported to authorities.

Cases
In 2014, a ten-year-old girl who had gotten pregnant from being raped by a neighbor was unable to get a legal abortion. Her mother, supported by AJS, brought the case to the state prosecutor, and the rapist was put in police custody. The girl gave birth to twins in February 2014.

Infanticide
Some women who cannot get abortions commit infanticide. Some drown their babies in septic tanks or wells, strangle them, or starve them. The company that runs Dakar's Mbeubeuss Landfill discovered 39 infant corpses there in 2021. Few women in rural Senegal are aware of the country's few orphanages.

The AJS found in 2015 that 19% of detained women were charged with infanticide, and 3% with abortion. In 2020, 43 women were prosecuted for either offense. In April 2022, 16 of the 83 inmates at Liberté-VI prison were charged with infanticide. In March 2018, 40% of the 58 women in the prison in Thiès were charged with infanticide. The typical jail sentence for infanticide is five years. It is the second-leading cause of imprisonment for women in Senegal.

Abortion rights groups such as the ASWL and the Ministry of Health attribute infanticide to the lack of birth control and legal abortion. Some attribute it to religious, rather than legal, opposition to abortion. Authorities say absent husbands are a factor. Infanticide is more common in rural areas with low literacy.