The legal age of having access to reproductive health services has increased from 18 to 15 years in Rwanda, after the approval of a law by Parliament on Monday, August 4. This decision was welcomed, the next day, by human rights associations.
According to the Minister of Health Sabin Nsanzimana, responsible for the “Law that regulates health services”, the inaccessibility of certain minor services was responsible for the high rate of unwanted pregnancies in adolescents, more than 22,000 in 2024 according to official data.
Although birth rates in adolescents have decreased worldwide, it was in sub -Saharan Africa that this fall was the slowest, according to WHO.
“Something good”
Thanks to the approval of the law by deputies, Rwanda adolescents can have access to the pill, although they have insisted on the priority to give the condoms.
“It is good that he (Parliament) has approached the issue of a progressive point of view,” the director of the great lakes for human rights and development, John Scarius, told AFP the next day.
He hopes that the law will lead to a drop in pregnancies among adolescents, a reduction in school fall and clandestine abortions, as well as a decrease, or even an end of deaths related to abortion.
Fears of certain families
Others have expressed fears that the law only opens “a very dangerous door.”
“The idea of seeing your 15 -year -old boy who goes to school with condom packages in his bag is inconceivable. This is to openly encourage immorality,” said Charlotte Karemera, a mother and retired health officer in Kigali. “In a way, it will encourage abortion,” he said.
Abortion is only legal in Rwanda if it is of rape, incest or forced marriage.
The country has around 13 million inhabitants, 40 % of which are less than 15 years old.
The law was examined by deputies since last year and a similar proposal had been rejected in 2022 by Parliament.
Source: BFM TV
