Download Sierra Leone - the United Nations

Sierra Leone
ABORTION POLICY
Grounds on which abortion is permitted:
To save the life of the woman
To preserve physical health
To preserve mental health
Rape or incest
Foetal impairment
Economic or social reasons
Available on request
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Additional requirements:
Information is not readily available.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CONTEXT
Government view on fertility level:
Too high
Government intervention concerning fertility level:
To lower
Government policy on contraceptive use:
Indirect support provided
Percentage of currently married women using
modern contraception (aged 15-49):
..
Total fertility rate (1995-2000):
6.1
Age-specific fertility rate (per 1,000 women aged 15-19, 1995-2000):
202
Government has expressed particular concern about:
Morbidity and mortality resulting from induced abortion
Complications of childbearing and childbirth
..
..
Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births, 1990):
National
Western Africa
1 800
1 020
Female life expectancy at birth (1995-2000):
38.7
Source: Population Policy Data Bank, maintained by the Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations
Secretariat. For additional sources, see reference section.
82
Sierra Leone
BACKGROUND
Under Sierra Leone law, The English Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 is still in effect. This Act
prohibits the performance of all abortions and makes a person performing an abortion and a pregnant woman
consenting to the performance of an abortion subject to imprisonment. A law introduced in 1988 to regulate the
practice of pharmacy (Pharmacy and Drugs Act of 1988) also prohibits any advertisement of drugs or services
that could be used to terminate or influence the course of a human pregnancy.
Nonetheless, under general criminal law principles of necessity an abortion can be performed to save the
life of the pregnant woman. In addition, Sierra Leone, like many Commonwealth countries whose legal systems
are based on English common law, follows the holding of the 1938 English Rex v. Bourne decision in
determining whether an abortion performed for health reasons is lawful. In the Rex v. Bourne decision, a
physician was acquitted of the offence of performing an abortion in the case of a woman who had been raped.
The court ruled that the abortion was lawful because it had been performed to prevent the woman from
becoming “a physical and mental wreck”, thus setting a precedent for future abortion cases performed on the
grounds of preserving the pregnant woman’s physical and mental health.
The high incidence of induced abortion is a growing concern in Sierra Leone. The problem is more acute
among young women, whose high rates of pregnancy force many to seek abortions. It is estimated that 80 per
cent of all legal abortions are performed on women aged 15-24. Complications of induced abortion are the
most important cause of hospitalization and maternal mortality in Sierra Leone, a situation that has placed
strains on an already overburdened health-care system. Sierra Leone suffers the world’s highest maternal
mortality ratio (1,800 deaths per 100,000 live births) and has an estimated total fertility rate of 6.1 children per
woman (1995-2000).
Both knowledge and availability of family planning services are limited, particularly in rural areas, and
birth spacing in the form of post-partum abstinence is the main contraceptive method. It is estimated that only
5 per cent of married women use modern contraceptives. In 1992, the Ministry of Health began to play a major
role in promoting family planning by including it as a part of maternal and child health services. The
Government is committed to integrating population components into development planning. As a result, the
National Population Commission was created in 1982 and a national population programme framework
(National Population Policy Paper) was formulated in 1989. In 1992, the Government established a national
family planning programme in the Department of Health and Social Services. The civil war of the 1990s
seriously affected the entire range of governmental population, health and family planning services.
Source: Population Policy Data Bank, maintained by the Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United
Nations Secretariat. For additional sources, see reference section.
83