Global Roundup: Abortion in Sierra Leone, Tajik Women vs Govt Fashion Advice, Quechua Woman Lifting Other Indigenous Women, Afghan Girl Guitarists, Manchester’s Radical Black Female Activists

Schoolgirls walk home past a mural from women’s organization “Plan International” reading “My Body, My Choice, My Rights,” in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thusday March 3, 2025 (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)

cw: abortion-related trauma and death

Fatou Esther, 21, is a nursing student who is mobilizing others in support of a bill that would decriminalize abortion in Sierra Leone.

When she got pregnant at 16, Fatou Esther Jusu was terrified that it would derail her future.

Abortion is illegal in Sierra Leone. Fearing judgment from her family, she took friends’ advice and bought misoprostol, a drug whose uses include abortion, from a local pharmacy. It didn’t work. Desperate, she tried again and miscarried.

“I went to the toilet… and the baby came out,” she said. She fainted and was taken to a hospital, where she pleaded with doctors not to tell her parents.

Now 21, Jusu considers herself lucky. One friend died after taking an expired version of the medication.

Even though I made a mistake, this mistake is saving other people. -Fatou Jusu

Sierra Leone could become the second country in West Africa to decriminalize abortion, which health workers say would significantly improve the safety of pregnant women, decrease the number of preventable deaths and bring an end to the current colonial-era law.

Tens of thousands of women and girls attempt to self-terminate their pregnancies every year in Sierra Leone, where abortion is illegal in all circumstances.

Supporters of the bill say unsafe abortions account for around 10% of maternal deaths. Healthcare workers are known to perform terminating procedures when the situation is “incompatible with life” of the woman, usually in the case of “incomplete” abortions. Because abortion is illegal, they cite other reasons for the termination.

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio pointedly introduced the Safe Motherhood Bill after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, stripping away women’s constitutional protections for abortion.

At a time when sexual and reproductive health rights for women are either being overturned or threatened, we are proud that Sierra Leone can once again lead with progressive reforms. -President Julius Maada Bio

If approved, the bill would have been West Africa’s most progressive legislation on abortion, allowing the procedure for up to 14 weeks.

But Sierra Leone since then has been torn apart by debate. Following opposition from religious leaders, the bill has been amended and now limits abortion to cases of life-threatening risk, fatal fetal abnormalities, rape or incest.

The government says it expects a vote in parliament in the coming weeks. It is not clear whether it will be approved.

An estimated 90,000 abortions are performed annually in Sierra Leone, a country of more than 8 million people, according to research by the African Population and Health Research Center. About 10% of the country’s maternal deaths — affecting 717 of every 100,000 births — are due to unsafe abortions, the center said.

Health workers say the true number is likely much higher.

Due to cost and stigma, many women and girls resort to unsafe methods like expired medication, laundry detergent, hangers or sharp instruments.

Officials say the bill is needed to strengthen gender reforms in Sierra Leone, which include last year’s ban on child marriage.

The bill also would allow wider access to family planning and reproductive health services. Activists fear those will be lost if the bill fails.

Both sides in the debate have accused each other of being sponsored by foreign governments.

Many healthcare practitioners say they want the bill to pass so they can save lives without fear.

Nurse Hawanatu Samura recalled a mother who had traveled for hours in agony to the capital after drinking a concoction given to her by a traditional healer. Samura accompanied the patient to a hospital to seek treatment for a distended abdomen, severe septicemia and anemia.

The mother of six died in the waiting room.

Right there on the couch …. everybody was crying. Anytime I think of her, I wish the bill had been long passed. -Hawanatu Samura.