Senegal: The Conflict Between Reproductive Autonomy and Abortion Laws

• Despite ratifying the Maputo Protocol in 2004, Senegal has failed to transpose Article 14 into national law, which mandates access to medical abortion in cases of rape, incest, or health risks.
• Article 305 of the Senegalese Criminal Code strictly prohibits abortion except in limited therapeutic cases to save the mother's life.
• The legal void forces many women into dangerous, illegal practices; according to Prison-Insider, up to 46 percent of women in Dakar's Liberté VI prison are incarcerated for infanticide.

International Obligations and Legal Failure

• Organizations including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Senegalese League of Human Rights (LSDH), and RADDHO published the 2024 "Dual Hardship" report, condemning the state's non-compliance with its treaty commitments.
• Activists argue that forcing rape and incest survivors to carry pregnancies to term represents a systemic failure to protect women's health and dignity.

Religious and Traditional Constraints

• Abortion prohibition is largely justified through religious and traditional arguments, despite Senegal’s status as a secular republic under its Constitution.
• While some Islamic traditions do not equate early-stage pregnancy termination with killing, conservative patriarchy frames abortion as a foreign practice that violates local moral standards.
• Groups like JGEN argue that these standards are used as a tool for patriarchal control, urging the state to stop criminalizing victims and prioritize women's bodily autonomy over societal taboos.