The Gambia has a stigma surrounding extramarital pregnancy and abortion, and most women's rights groups in the country oppose it.
Section 140 of the Criminal Code of the Gambia makes procuring an abortion a crime punishable by fourteen years of prison.
[1] Gambia's abortion law, a version of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, was introduced by the colonial government in 1933.
[1] The British judicial case of Rex v Bourne (1938) permitted abortion on the grounds of preserving physical or mental health.
[1] The Gambia ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on 16 April 1993 and the Maputo Protocol on 25 May 2005.
They established a mechanism for the National Assembly to revisit the abortion law through meetings with representatives of the government and civil society.
The Gambia withdrew its reservations to the Maputo Protocol days before hosting the 2006 African Union Head of States Summit.
It does not meet the terms of the Maputo Protocol that provide for abortion in the cases of rape, incest, and risk to health of the mother.
The government did not submit mandatory reports to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights until the transition to democracy under Adama Barrow.
The National Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health Strategic Plan (2017–2021) suggested implementing a strategy to improve post-abortion care.
Participants noted the need for a coalition to advocate for the legalization of abortion in the cases of rape, incest, and risk to health.
[5] According to a 1996 study by the Gambia Family Planning Association, the highest abortion rates are in women aged 14 to 24 and in urban or peri-urban areas.
[1] The Gambia has a high maternal mortality ratio of 443 per 100,000, significantly impacted by the lack of safe abortion.
[11][12] Though teachers are trained on the sex education curriculum, they have difficulties discussing sensitive topics like abortion, and students consider them unqualified, leading to a lack of knowledge among adolescents.
[16] There is a common belief that evil spirits can be summoned to force abortions, so many women keep pregnancies secret in the early stage.