Sierra Leone legalises abortion

DAKAR: Women with unwanted pregnancies in Sierra Leone will no longer have to undergo unsafe abortions after parliament passed a law which activists said on Thursday would save countless lives in the country with the world’s highest maternal death rate. The Safe Abortion Act makes the procedure legal and replaces a 1861 law banning most instances of abortion. One in 70 women in Sierra Leone dies during or shortly after childbirth, onethird of them because of unsafe abortions in unhygienic and dangerous surroundings. “Practically everyone in Sierra Leone knows someone who has been affected in some way by unsafe abortion — people have lost wives, daughters, and loves ones,” said Val Tucker from Ipas NGO.