A group of 367 girls and women who have been behind bars for an abortion-related conviction in Rwanda have been granted clemency by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, according to an official statement issued Thursday in Kigali.
According to a decision taken by Rwandan Cabinet meeting chaired by President Paul Kagame, Pursuant to the powers conferred upon him by the laws…the President of the Republic informed the cabinet meeting that he has exercised his prerogative of mercy and pardoned 367 persons convicted for the offences of abortion.
Yet Rwanda’s current penal code stipulates that the final decision over whether a woman can have an abortion lies with courts, a judicial source in Kigali told APA that the majority of convicted are mainly from poorer communities who have limited resources to pay for a lawyer to defend them in court.
Since January 2018, efforts to decriminalise abortion through the country’s legislative assembly have been unsuccessful.
The move comes after Civil society groups, health experts and lawmakers in Rwanda are divided over a proposed change to the penal code that would make it easier for a woman to get an abortion.
Abortion in Rwanda is currently considered as a criminal and punishable offense, except when it is the result of rape, incest or forced marriage, or when a pregnancy poses a danger to the life of the
child or mother, reports said
CU/abj/APA