Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma has again refused to sign a bill legalising abortion

Am surprised this kinda news is filtering in Africa! Who would want to legalize an unjustified murder? Just my opinion though, read news below...



It was unanimously passed by MPs in December, but Mr Koroma refused to sign it after protests by religious leaders.After consultations, MPs returned the bill to him last month, unaltered.

The law would allow women to terminate a pregnancy in any circumstances up to 12 weeks and in cases of incest, rape and foetal impairment up to 24 weeks.

Abortion is currently illegal in Sierra Leone under any circumstances. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and five Sierra Leonean rights groups wrote to President Koroma in February urging him to give the bill his assent.

"Unsafe abortions - often resulting from restrictive laws and poor access to sexual and reproductive health services, information, and education - is one of the main factors contributing to maternal deaths in Sierra Leone," their letter said.

The World Health Organization estimates that Sierra Leone has the world's highest maternal mortality ratio at 1,360 deaths per 100,000 live births last year.

The report coming in from the capital, Freetown, says the abortion issue has led to heated debates and protests on both sides.

President Koroma has now referred the controversial legislation to the Constitutional Review Committee, a body currently reviewing the country's constitution.

Another report coming in says it will decide whether to include it in the changes it recommends to the constitution, which will be put to a referendum.

When President Koroma sent the legislation back to parliament in January, he asked for it to be reviewed after consultation with religious and women's groups as it went beyond an African Union protocol on women's rights which only backs abortion in cases of sexual assault and in medical emergencies.

Under Sierra Leone's current constitution the president cannot veto a bill which received a two-thirds majority in Parliament. The speaker of the house could sign the Safe Abortion Act into law, but he is highly unlikely to do so as he comes from the president's party.