Abortion and reproductive health rights

The Crimes Act regulates criminal offenses in Samoa, including provisions on infanticide, feticide, sexual crimes, and trafficking.

The Belize Criminal Code defines and criminalizes rape, including marital rape (Sections 46, 71-74); carnal knowledge of female child (Section 47); procuring or attempting to procure a woman (Section 49-50); compulsion of marriage (Section 58); incest by males (Section 62); abortion, miscarriage, and child destruction (Sections 111-12, 127).  The Code mandates a minimum sentence of eight years for rape (Section 46), 12 years of carnal knowledge of a female child (Section 47), and a life sentence for habitual sex offenders (Section 48).

Of particular note:

The Criminal Code applies to the southern states of Nigeria. The Criminal Code Act distinguishes between the treatment of assault on men and assault on women, with Chapter 29 (Sections 351-356) addressing “Assaults” and Chapter 30 (Sections 357-362) addressing “Assaults on Females: Abduction.” Notably, indecent assault on a man is considered a more serious offense and carries a higher sentence than does indecent assault on a woman.

The Criminal Code Act 1924 prohibits forced and unauthorized abortions and assaults on pregnant women, sexual violence, stalking, domestic violence, and female genital mutilation. The termination of a pregnancy by a person other than a medical practitioner or the pregnant woman herself is a crime at any stage of the pregnancy.

Abortion is generally illegal in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, but is allowed under limited circumstances. Under Section 149(1), it is a criminal offence to unlawfully use any means to procure a miscarriage, whether or not the woman is pregnant. This carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison.

Although Malawi has crimes eligible capital punishment, sections 327 and 328 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code provide that any woman who receives such a sentence must undergo an inquiry to confirm that she is not pregnant before the sentence is carried out. The court will determine whether or not she is pregnant based on evidence presented. A decision that a woman is not pregnant is appealable to the Supreme Court of Appeal. A woman who is determined to be pregnant shall have her sentence changed to life imprisonment.  

The complainant visited the gynecologist for an abortion. In the process, the doctor damaged the complainant’s uterus, bladder, and intestines. The complainant needed surgery to repair the damage and lost the ability to bear children. During the court hearing, the State’s forensic medical examiner found that the doctor did not violate medical protocols. The examiner also found that the doctor's actions did not cause the complainant’s organ damage, and that the accident occurred due to the peculiarities of the complainant’s body.

The European Court of Human Rights found inadmissible a complaint regarding the unavailability of abortion services for fatal fetal abnormality in Ireland and a question of the compatibility of the constitutional restriction on the availability of abortion in Ireland with Article 8 of the ECHR because the applicant had failed to exhaust domestic remedies.

Mrs. I.G., Mrs. R.H., and Mrs. M.K.

The defendant, a physician, agreed to perform an abortion for a woman who was 20-22 weeks pregnant for Rp. 800,000. The defendant performed the abortion in her own home using a ‘Gastrul Pill’ and was criminally charged for intentionally performing an abortion. The defendant confessed to performing the procedure and did not contest the indictment. The court found that the defendant performed an illegal abortion because the woman did not have a prior examination from a counselor and defendant did not have a certificate endorsed by the minister.