Introduction

From Rwanda to Zambia, Kenya to Malawi to Nigeria, courts and parliaments are reaffirming the message that women and girls must not be punished for exercising their reproductive rights, or denied the care they need.

But what makes these transformations different is not simply the number of legal wins–it is the clarity they provide. Across diverse legal systems and political contexts, the message is becoming harder to ignore: reproductive rights are enforceable rights grounded in constitutional guarantees, and inseparable from dignity, equality, and the right to health for all women and girls in Africa.

Rwanda: Trusting adolescents

Rwanda: Trusting adolescents with their own sexual and reproductive health

In August 2025, Rwanda’s Parliament passed a landmark Law Regulating Healthcare Services, lowering the age of consent for accessing healthcare, including sexual and reproductive health services, from 18 to 15.

For years, adolescents needed third-party consent to access contraception and other essential services. In practice, this heightened stigma and delayed access to reproductive health care and information. The reform did more than amend a statute–it recognized adolescents as rights holders with agency.

In a region where teenage pregnancy and unsafe abortions continue to shape educational and economic futures, the new law signaled trust that access to accurate information and services protect health rather than undermines morality. It also strengthened Rwanda’s compliance with its obligations under the Maputo Protocol, which requires states to ensure access to sexual and reproductive health services without discrimination.

Learn more about the Center’s role in the passage of the landmark law here.

Zambia: Justice beyond criminalization

Zambia: When poverty leads to criminalization

In Zambia, constitutional clarity emerged through the life and legal battle of one woman. Violet Zulu, a young domestic worker and single mother of two, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for procuring her own abortion. She had attempted to seek lawful abortion care but could not afford it. She appeared in court without legal representation and pleaded guilty without understanding the full scope of her rights or available defenses.

In January 2026, the High Court overturned her conviction in an appeal brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights. The Court found that her plea had been accepted without proper explanation of the offense and without ensuring she understood it. By setting her free, the Court did more than correct a procedural injustice. It exposed a systemic one, making clear that poverty must never undermine liberty.

Beyond Violet’s individual freedom, the ruling affirmed that women and girls must not be criminalized for seeking reproductive healthcare and underscored the state’s obligation to ensure accessible, lawful abortion services. It also set an important legal precedent, clarifying courts’ duties to protect unrepresented defendants and strengthening ongoing advocacy efforts to remove barriers to safe abortion, ensure proper implementation of the Termination of Pregnancy Act, and prevent the criminal justice system from punishing women for gaps in the health system.

Kenya: Constitutional protections

Kenya: Constitutional protections over policy and politics

In Kenya, 2025 brought renewed judicial affirmation that policy cannot override the Constitution.

On September 1, 2025, the High Court struck down a provision in the National Reproductive Health Policy (2022–2032) that sought to limit access to safe and legal abortion by requiring that the health of the fetus be prioritized before abortion services could be provided. The court found that the clause contradicted Article 26(4) of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya and would put women and girls in need of reproductive health services at risk.

This ruling builds on the landmark decision in NAYA (Petition 428 of 2018), where the High Court quashed unlawful bans imposed on Marie Stopes Kenya for providing reproductive health information and services. In that case, the Court held that regulatory bodies had acted without legal authority.

Malawi: Rights for survivors

Malawi: An automatic right for survivors of sexual violence

In October 2025, the High Court of Malawi issued a judgment that affirmed that child survivors of sexual violence have an automatic right to access abortion under the Gender Equality Act of Malawi.

The groundbreaking case centered on a 13-year-old survivor, AC, who had initially been denied services despite the risks pregnancy posed to her health. The Court adopted a purposive interpretation of the law, recognizing that the right to preserve life includes protection of physical and mental health. It ordered structural remedies to ensure compliance, including amendments to national guidelines.

Nigeria: Recognizing survivors’ rights

Nigeria: Recognizing survivors’ rights through constitutional and regional law

In Nigeria, 2025 marked a defining judicial recognition of survivors’ dignity and autonomy.

The Federal High Court issued a first-of-its-kind ruling in June, affirming that pregnancy resulting from rape or incest constitutes a violation of women’s and girls’ rights to physical and mental health. The Court recognized that survivors are entitled to access safe abortion care, clarifying a long-standing legal gap that had forced many into unsafe and illegal options.

The decision drew directly from Nigeria’s obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Maputo Protocol, reinforcing the tenet that regional human rights standards are not merely pledges but enforceable protections.

This was a major shift in recognition–that survivors of sexual violence are not subjects of moral judgment or criminal suspicion. They are entitled to care, protection, and justice.

Implementation will determine the full impact of the ruling. But the constitutional direction is now clearer than ever: where rights are violated, the law must respond with protection, not punishment.

Continental momentum for justice

Continental momentum for justice

Across the continent, a clear legal shift is underway as reproductive healthcare is increasingly recognized as a constitutional and human right. Recent court decisions and legislative reforms have affirmed that abortion care, post-abortion services, accurate reproductive health information, and adolescent health services must be grounded in dignity, equality, and the right to health.

Judiciaries are rejecting criminalization that disproportionately punishes poor and marginalized women and girls. They are clarifying that policy cannot override constitutional guarantees, that mental and social wellbeing form part of the right to health, and that survivors of sexual violence are entitled to care without facing additional barriers. Courts are also interpreting domestic law consistently with regional human rights standards, reinforcing the binding nature of the Maputo Protocol.

While stigma and implementation challenges remain, the direction is unmistakable: reproductive healthcare is no longer secondary. Rather, it is enforceable, constitutional, and central to human rights accountability.