Diagnosis of Abortion Laws in Nigeria and Human Rights Trajectory: Lessons from Great Britain and United States of America

Abstract

Abortion is the termination of pregnancy before its birth for whatever reason. The present study is concerned with therapeutic abortion which is criminalized in Nigeria been the focus of this study. The Nigerian societal attitude to abortion is one of stereotyped stigmatization notwithstanding the validity of the reasons. The aim of the study is to examine the trajectory between abortion laws and human rights in Nigeria and the lessons Nigeria can learn from Great Britain and United States jurisdictions. The objective is to interrogate the extant abortion laws with a view to locating their inadequacies in the area of both the African and international human rights concerns of sexual and reproductive health of women on abortion rights. Using doctrinal design by reliance on primary and secondary sources analysed through deductive reasoning based on extant statutes and case law, this study interrogated the extant abortion laws in Nigeria in juxtaposition with the British and the United States legal framework on abortion as well as critical examination of the African and international human rights jurisprudences, and found out that the current position of abortion law in Nigeria is not in the same wavelength with both the African and international human rights jurisprudences on sexual and reproductive health rights of females to access safe abortions implicit in the fundamental rights and freedoms of privacy, non-discrimination, right to life, good health and bodily autonomy as it relates to unwanted pregnancies induced by other factors such as rape, incest or severe foetus abnormalities. The study recommended law reform by using the models provided by the British and United States legal framework to allow women access to legal abortion in deserving cases in conformity with African and international human rights treaties.