While Tanzania is a signatory to the Maputo Protocol, it has not adopted legislation that would allow abortion in cases of pregnancy from rape, incest, or risk of harm to the mental and physical health of the mother.
A Safe Motherhood Bill that would have aligned Tanzanian law with the Maputo Protocol was rejected by the National Assembly in 2012.
[1] Tanzania's abortion laws originated with legal codes imposed during British colonial rule.
[3] The right to abortion due to risk to the health of the mother is not explicitly mentioned in Tanzanian law.
[5] Tanzania is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.
[1] In 2007, Tanzania ratified the Maputo Protocol, which requires the government to "protect the reproductive rights of women by authorising medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, [and] incest, and where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the [pregnant woman] or the life of the [pregnant woman] or the foetus."
Self-induced abortions in Tanzania have reportedly involved the insertion of sharp objects into the uterus, high doses of anti-microbial drugs, detergents, concentrated teas, cassava stems, or wood ashes.
[1] A 2012 study by the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences found that one in three women who had abortions between the ages of 15 and 24 had the procedure done by a non-professional.
The bill proposed to align the country's laws with the Maputo Protocol by expanding abortion access to pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, where continuing the pregnancy would pose a substantial risk of the fetus having mental or physical abnormalities, or where a woman's mental or physical health would be threatened.
[1] Efforts to liberalize the country's abortion laws have been supported by the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA), the East African Community, Care International, and the White Ribbon Alliance.
It receives funding from the U.S.-based Human Life International and actively counters initiatives that would allow for more permissive abortion policies in the country.