LESOTHO-ABORTION-TBs-CCPR

Concluding Observations on Report 2 (2023) (Link)

Termination of pregnancy, maternal mortality and reproductive rights

23. The Committee takes note of the steps taken by the State party to assess the prevalence of abortion in the State party and to consider the possibility of legalizing it. Nevertheless, the Committee is concerned by the high numbers of women and girls who have recourse to illegal and unsafe abortions, in private clinics or on the so-called “black market”, that put their lives and health at risk. The Committee is also concerned about the legal provisions for charging staff working in private abortion clinics with a criminal offense for practising illegal abortions. The Committee is further concerned by reports of high maternal and infant mortality rates and by the lack of adequate postnatal checks and immunizations for mothers and their babies born outside public hospitals and clinics, especially in rural areas. The Committee is concerned by credible reports of forced sterilization (arts. 2, 3, 6 and 7).

 24. Bearing in mind paragraph 8 of the Committee’s general comment No. 36 (2018) on the right to life, the State party should:

(a) Amend its legislation to guarantee safe, legal and effective access to abortion, including in rural and remote areas, where the life and health of the pregnant woman or girl is at risk, or where carrying a pregnancy to term would cause the pregnant woman or girl substantial pain or suffering, most notably where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest or where the pregnancy is not viable;

(b) Strengthen indiscriminatory access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including affordable contraception and reproductive health-care services, paying particular attention to improving the maternal mortality and infant mortality rates, postnatal checks, immunizations and post-abortion health care, including in rural areas, and establish State control of the private clinics where illegal and unsafe abortions take place;

(c) Ensure that any allegation of forced sterilization is thoroughly investigated, that perpetrators are prosecuted, and, if found guilty, punished, and provide effective remedies and compensation to victims;

(d) Further develop and implement comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education programmes, addressed to women, men and adolescents, with a view to preventing unintended pregnancies and effectively combating the stigmatization of women and girls who have recourse to abortion, including on the prevention of sexually transmitted infections.

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Concluding Observations on Report 1 (1999) (Link)

11. The Committee is concerned that the law in force in Lesotho makes abortion illegal except in cases where the woman concerned is of unsound mind or the conception is the result of rape or incestuous intercourse.

The Committee recommends the State party to review the law of abortion to provide for situations where the life of the woman is in danger.

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