Kenya Court Reverses Landmark Abortion Rights Ruling
Last update: April 25, 2026
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Decision reignites debate over reproductive health, legal uncertainty, and access to safe care.
A Kenyan appeals court on Friday overturned a landmark ruling that had declared access to abortion a fundamental right.
Kenya is a deeply Christian country where abortion is legal in limited circumstances but remains widely taboo. This stigma drives hundreds of thousands of women and girls to unsafe, backstreet clinics that put their lives at risk.
The Centre for Reproductive Rights, an international NGO, says seven Kenyan women die each day from unsafe abortions. Many others face police extortion due to confusion and inconsistencies in the law.
CBI News reports that Kenya’s 2010 constitution permits abortion if the life or health of the mother is in danger. However, the country’s penal code, dating back to British colonial rule, has not been fully updated to align with these provisions.
The case dates to September 2019, when a 16 year old girl was arrested in her hospital bed in Kilifi alongside clinician Salim Mohammed.
The girl had sought treatment for severe complications from an abortion, including pain and heavy bleeding. Mohammed determined she had lost the pregnancy and provided post abortion care, according to their lawyers.
Mohammed was charged with providing abortion services and detained for a week. The girl was charged with procuring an abortion and, unable to afford bail, was held in a juvenile facility for more than a month.
In March 2022, the High Court quashed the charges and ruled that access to abortion was a constitutional right. It also stated that patients must be protected from practices such as forced medical examinations used in prosecutions.
That decision was overturned on Friday. The appeals court ruled that the constitution protects the right to life from conception and that lower courts were entitled to investigate whether the girl’s health was at risk before she sought the abortion.
“Abortion is not a fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution. On the contrary, the Constitution expressly prohibits it but provides exceptions in limited circumstances when it may be permissible,” the judges said.
They added that constitutional rights do not prevent proper investigation, charges, and prosecution in such cases.
The Centre for Reproductive Rights called the ruling deeply disappointing and said it would appeal to the Supreme Court.
“This decision raises significant concerns on access to reproductive health services in Kenya,” the organisation said in a statement.
It added that the case reflects a broader pattern in which individuals seeking or providing reproductive healthcare face criminal penalties despite constitutional protections for dignity, health, and freedom from inhuman treatment.
Rights groups say legal uncertainty around abortion has contributed to police harassment and extortion of both patients and medical providers.
A study by the African Population and Health Research Centre, Kenya’s Ministry of Health, and the Guttmacher Institute estimated there were more than 790,000 induced abortions in 2023.
The study also found that more than 300,000 women received post abortion care in health facilities, largely due to complications from unsafe procedures.
