The Maputo Protocol

We need to be familiar with important normative documents directing national policies in AFRICA!

The Maputo Protocol:This 2003 agreement signed by leaders of African countries ought to be familiar to us as we minister on this continent. Its objective is to protect and promote the rights of women, and eliminate various forms of discrimination against women, and for the most part can be useful in our need to educate to good citizenship… It is a pity that it introduces at the article 14 #2c the following:

“States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to.... protect the reproductive rights of women by authorising medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest, and where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the life of the mother or the foetus.”

Even if this article appears restrictive, once any country introduces legislation of this sort on abortion, it is the thin edge of the wedge to unconditional legalisation of it. Caution therefore is called for regarding such international accords, but for the rest, much of the Maputo Protocol is worth referring to, even in sermons.

Find the complete document attached.