The High Court has struck down directives that barred Marie Stopes Kenya from offering abortion services, post-abortion care, and related public awareness campaigns, ruling that the orders were issued without legal authority.
Justice Chacha Mwita quashed decisions made by the Kenya Films & Classification Board (KFCB), the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC), and the Director of Medical Services (DMS), describing the actions as unconstitutional, unlawful, and beyond the bodies’ legal powers.
The ruling followed a petition filed in November 2018 by the Network for Adolescents and Youth of Africa (NAYA–Kenya) and Jackline Mary Karanja, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights. The petition challenged the bans, arguing they denied women, girls, and young people access to lawful sexual and reproductive health information and services.
Justice Mwita noted that none of the three institutions had the constitutional or statutory authority to impose the restrictions. “The court has found the decisions to be ultra vires, unlawful, illegal, and unconstitutional, and orders of certiorari are issued quashing all three decisions in their entirety,” he ruled.
The court found that the KFCB exceeded its mandate by prohibiting a public awareness campaign run by Marie Stopes Kenya in partnership with the Ministry of Health, while the KMPDC was found to have no authority to conduct disciplinary proceedings against institutions, as its powers apply only to individual practitioners.
Additionally, the judge ruled that the DMS had unlawfully assumed the powers of the Director-General of Health, making the directive banning post-abortion care illegal.
The petitioners argued that the bans exposed women and girls seeking lawful medical care to serious risks and violated constitutional rights to health, information, and dignity.