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  3. Ashenafi

Advocacy for Legal Reform for Safe Abortion

Meaza Ashenafi(1),


(1) 
Corresponding Author

Abstract


In Ethiopia, violation of women's reproductive rights is both a cause and a manifestation of women's disempowerment. Obstacles to full realisation of Ethiopian women's reproductive health and rights include the persistence of harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, early marriage and abduction, as well as the disturbing prevalence of rape and HIV/AIDS. Unsafe abortion represents a particularly serious threat to women's health and lives. Ethiopia's status as a signatory to the Convention to eliminate all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and its constitutional guarantee of women's equality demand more aggressive action to eradicate such practices and inequities. After years of lobbying by women's organisations, parliamentarians are now reviewing a draft of the 1957 penal code, which includes numerous provisions addressing some of these practices and other conditions that underlie women's poor social and health status. (Afr J Reprod Health 2004; 8[1]:79-84)

 

Keywords: Abortion, Ethiopia, CEDAW, legal reform, reproductive health


References


Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo 1994.

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Article 1.

Survey of National Harmful Traditional Practices on Women, National Committee on Harmful Traditional Practices, 1997.

HabtuAlem. Obstacles to women's access to higher education in Ethiopia (unpublished), 2000.

UNAIDS. Report on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Geneva: UNAIDS, 2002.

Mekbib T, Hiwot YG and Fantahun M. Survey of unsafe abortion in health facilities in Ethiopia. Sponsored by the Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, UNFPA and NORAD 2002 (unpublished report).

Population Reference Bureau. World Population Data Sheet 2003. Washington DC: Population Reference Bureau.

Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, as adopted by the Conference of Heads of States and Govern-ments, Maputo - Mozambique July 2003, Article 14.

Constitution of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia 1995.

Penal Code of Ethiopia 1957.

Draft Amendment to the 1957 Penal Code.

Population Policy 1993.

Gender and HIV/AIDS, WouletaBetemariam, UNAIDS, 1999.


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