“Justice for Josephine” Documentary: Affirming the Right to Respectful Maternal Health Care in Kenya

In 2013, Josephine Majani arrived at Bungoma District Hospital in Kenya in labor, expecting care and compassion. Instead, she was neglected, abused, and forced to give birth on the hospital floor alone and in agony. Her harrowing experience, captured on video, sparked national outrage and ignited a historic legal battle for accountability, justice, and dignity in Kenya’s public maternal health system.

The new seven-minute documentary, “Justice for Josephine: Affirming the Right to Respectful Maternal Health Care in Kenya,” tells Josephine’s powerful story, from the trauma she endured to her courageous pursuit of justice. It exposes systemic failures in Kenya’s healthcare system and chronicles the landmark legal victory that affirmed respectful maternity care as a constitutional right.

Watch the video:

Josephine’s case, brought before the Bungoma High Court by the Center for Reproductive Rights, marked a turning point. In 2018, the court ruled in her favor, finding that the treatment she received violated her rights to dignity, health, and freedom from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

In 2024, the Kenya Court of Appeal upheld this landmark judgment, reinforcing the Kenyan judiciary’s commitment to defending the human rights of women and holding public institutions accountable.

Through powerful interviews—with Josephine and the Center attorneys who worked on her case—archival footage, and firsthand testimony, this documentary is both a tribute to Josephine’s resilience and a clarion call to ensure that no woman is mistreated while giving birth.