Senegal: Where women’s bodies belong to everyone but themselves
Source: Global Voices
However, in Senegal, this right largely remains mere words. Human rights organizations, such as the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Senegalese League of Human Rights (LSDH), and the African Assembly for the Defence of Human Rights (RADDHO), a national NGO based in the Senegalese capital Dakar, denounce the State’s non-compliance with its international commitments. In 2024, these three organizations published their Dual Hardship report, warning that Article 14 of the Maputo Protocol has not been transposed into national legislation, and that women victims of rape or incest must consequently carry their pregnancy to term.
In Senegal, Article 305 of the Criminal Code prohibits abortion, except under limited therapeutic circumstances intended to save a mother’s life. This situation drives many women, including the victims of rape or incest, towards illegal, dangerous, and often life-threatening practices.
According to Prison-Insider, a France-based platform that shares information on prisons across the world, up to 46 percent of the women held in Liberté VI prison in Senegal are convicted of infanticide, demonstrating the scale of the problem.
While the right to abortion is barely recognized, the reasons are not only legal, but also socio-cultural.
However, in Senegal, this right largely remains mere words. Human rights organizations, such as the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Senegalese League of Human Rights (LSDH), and the African Assembly for the Defence of Human Rights (RADDHO), a national NGO based in the Senegalese capital Dakar, denounce the State’s non-compliance with its international commitments. In 2024, these three organizations published their Dual Hardship report, warning that Article 14 of the Maputo Protocol has not been transposed into national legislation, and that women victims of rape or incest must consequently carry their pregnancy to term.
In Senegal, Article 305 of the Criminal Code prohibits abortion, except under limited therapeutic circumstances intended to save a mother’s life. This situation drives many women, including the victims of rape or incest, towards illegal, dangerous, and often life-threatening practices.
According to Prison-Insider, a France-based platform that shares information on prisons across the world, up to 46 percent of the women held in Liberté VI prison in Senegal are convicted of infanticide, demonstrating the scale of the problem.
While the right to abortion is barely recognized, the reasons are not only legal, but also socio-cultural.