Rwandan President Paul Kagame has signed a decree on pardoning 52 abortion convicts including those convicted for the offenses of infanticide, on the eve of the celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child, in a statement obtained Saturday by APA in Kigali.
The statement issued from the Cabinent meeting chaired by President Kagame said the the presidential pardon means that the President has exercised his power of mercy to give people another
Rwandan minister of Justice, Johnston Busingye said the President finds it fitting to give these convicts a second chance.
According to him, those released were previsously convicted for the offences for which the President is allowed by the Constitution to grant mercy.
The theme for this year’s International Day for the Girl Child is, “GirlForce: Unscripted and unstoppable”, it said.
A new law which has been gazetted oin 2009 states that girls below 18 years in Rwanda have a right to terminate a pregnancy before it is 22 weeks old.
Some of the determinant reasons to seek for an abortion include; in case the pregnant person is very young, in case the pregnancy is a result of incest (up to second cousins), in case the pregnancy is a result of rape and also in case the pregnancy was a result of forced marriage.
Also a patient may seek abortion if the pregnancy poses a health risk to their lives, according to the provisions of the same law
CU/abj/APA