Kenya's highest court has struck down a ruling that protected limited access to abortion, declaring that the procedure deprives unborn children of the right to life under the constitution. The decision reverses a 2021 judgment that had allowed termination under specific medical circumstances.

The ruling emerges from a country where thousands of women die each year from complications arising from unsafe abortions. Maternal health advocates argue that criminalizing the procedure will push desperate women toward dangerous underground options rather than addressing the underlying healthcare crisis.

The court's majority opinion found that constitutional protections for the unborn supersede considerations of maternal health or the circumstances that drive women to seek abortions. Reproductive rights organizations immediately condemned the ruling, warning it will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable women who lack resources to access safe healthcare alternatives.

Kenya now joins a number of African nations with increasingly restrictive abortion laws, even as the continent continues to grapple with some of the world's highest maternal mortality rates linked to unsafe procedures.