Doctors mustn’t prioritise unborn child in medical abortions, court rules

Court Gavel/FILE

Doctors performing emergency abortions have no obligation to consider the health of the unborn child, the High Court has ruled, striking down part of Kenya’s National Reproductive Health Policy.

The court last Thursday, October 2, declared the policy’s Paragraph 12 of Clause 3.4.1 unconstitutional. It required health professionals to take into account the “highest attainable standard of health of the unborn child” before terminating a pregnancy.

The court said the requirement conflicted with Constitution Article 26(4), which sets out the legal grounds on which pregnancy may be terminated.