Nigeria’s Senate on Tuesday stepped down a controversial bill that sought to impose a five-year jail term for anyone supplying abortion drugs to women, rejecting calls for lighter penalties and upholding the country’s strict anti-abortion laws.
The decision came in a swift plenary vote, prioritizing the protection of unborn life over proposed reforms.
The bill aimed to amend Sections 228-230 of the Criminal Code, which currently impose 14-year sentences for supplying “poison or noxious things” to procure miscarriages. It was introduced to address unsafe abortions—estimated at 1.25 million annually based on 2012 data—by offering a more lenient penalty than the existing seven years for patients and 14 years for suppliers or performers.
Northern Penal Code states align with this severity, driving clandestine procedures that contribute to up to 30% of maternal deaths, health experts say.
Women’s rights groups slammed the rejection. “This entrenches danger for desperate women turning to quacks and poisons,” said Dr. Amina Yusuf of the Nigerian Feminist Forum.
The Center for Reproductive Rights noted rising complications like nausea, infections, and fatalities from self-induced abortions using misoprostol or herbs, amid 59 unintended pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15-49.
The shelved bill leaves Nigeria’s colonial-era laws intact, criminalizing abortion except to save the mother’s life.
As reform voices grow, the Senate’s stance remains firm—no easing of penalties for now.