ABSTRACT
This statutory restriction and criminalization of abortion in Nigeria have had a negative impact on women and contributed to the alarming increase in the proportion of maternal death in the country. This paper proposes that in developing jurisprudence on women’s rights, the Nigerian legislature and judiciary will need to ask the woman question. It requires a legislative, judicial or quasi-judicial body to put woman at the centre of any decision with a view to addressing and examining how the peculiar experiences of women have been ignored by laws rooted in patriarchy. Notwithstanding the lifesaving exception under the codes, the paper suggests that the country can draw inspiration from the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa which recognized therapeutic grounds for abortion in line with women’s reality and experience in Africa. It recommends in line with feminist reasoning, a consistent gender-sensitive approach in dealing with reproductive right cases that may have implications for women.
