A Makerere University Law lecturer, Prof. Ben Twinomugisha calls for the legalization of safe medical abortion for women to reduce the number of females who lose their lives to unsafe abortion in Uganda.

According to Prof. Twinomugisha, unsafe abortion contributes over twenty six percent of maternal death in Uganda

"Many girls die after aborting using weird abortion methods like detergents. I hear some use Omo! Why don't we have an act that actually legalizes the act?" Prof. Twinomugisha asked. He was a keynote speaker at a public dialogue at Makerere University’s Central Teaching Facility II.

He told participants that the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Health in 2012 allowing safe medical abortion do not supersede the penal code (Sections 140 and 143) that declare abortion a crime. This means that women will always go for unsafe abortion in hiding for fear of being charged under the provisions of the law.

Joy Asasira, a lecturer from the School of Women Gender Studies supported this proposal, arguing that the constitution should stipulate exceptional circumstances for safe abortion especially when women are raped or if their partners neglect them.  According to her, this is an issue of gender imbalance in Africa where women are treated as minorities.

"If a man doesn't give you support and you know as women we have less financial strength, then what else can you do?" Asasira said.

However, Rev. Francis Osire, a guest speaker from the Church of Uganda opposed the proposal. According to him, abortion is murder which cannot be tolerated in society.

"It is a sin to kill someone and we should not try to make it a law," he argued. He told participants that there is no safe abortion because even what is said to be safe has side effects in the long run.

Osire instead preached abstinence before marriage as the healthiest way of curbing unwanted pregnancies.

Some African countries like South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia have laws that allow abortion.

According to Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum, over twenty girls between the ages of fifteen and twenty in 2015 alone carried out abortions in Uganda.

The public dialogue was organized by the Human Rights Awareness And Promotion Forum (HRAPF) and the Public Interest Law Clinic (PILAC).