(69) Explaining the Variation of Abortion Legislation in Sub Saharan Africa

This research seeks to identify country level factors that explain variation in the liberalization of abortion laws across countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of unsafe abortion and... [ view full abstract ]

This research seeks to identify country level factors that explain variation in the liberalization of abortion laws across countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of unsafe abortion and maternal mortality in the world (Singh et al. 2009). The liberalization of abortion laws have been shown to save women’s lives and benefit women’s education and productivity, not increase the frequency of abortions (Azarnert 2008; Ngwena 2014). Policy diffusion, and the impact of women’s international nongovernmental organizations (WINGOs) are theorized to be factors in the adoption of women-friendly policies outside of the context of Sub-Saharan Africa (Hughes et al. 2015; Taylor-Robinson and Heath 2003; Bush 2011). Due to institutional persistence, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa still have in place extractive colonial laws, but the codification of human rights norms, including the right to determine the timing and spacing of pregnancy, through international and regional institutions has begun to impact national laws in Sub-Saharan Africa (Mbise 2017). Although colonial influence was inconclusive as to its effect on the diffusion of liberal abortion laws, geographic proximity and the ratification of global, and to a lesser extent regional, agreements were found to be positively correlated to the liberalization of abortion laws in Sub-Saharan African countries. On the other hand, WINGOs promoting safe, legal abortion had a larger presence in countries with restrictive abortion laws, but the reasons for this are beyond the scope of my research.