Rwanda’s Parliament has approved a new law that lowers the age at which adolescents can access sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services without parental consent from 18 to 15 years. The legislation allows 15-year-olds to obtain contraception and other reproductive health services independently. Under the previous legal framework, adolescents under 18 were required to obtain parental or guardian consent for family planning and contraception services.
The new law removes this requirement for those aged 15 and above, thereby enabling them to access services such as pills, implants and other contraceptive methods without needing parental approval. Importantly, the law does not change the age of majority, which remains 18 in Rwandan law, nor does it alter consent to sexual activity, which is governed under separate legal provisions. The reform is solely about consent for health services, not legal consent to sex.
Advocates emphasise this distinction, noting that access to SRH services is about mitigating health risks rather than condoning sexual behaviour. Officials have pointed to rising rates of teenage pregnancies, health risks for adolescent mothers and children, and high levels of school dropout as drivers of the move. The health ministry noted that over 100,000 unwanted pregnancies have been recorded among teenage girls in recent years.
According to UNICEF, Rwanda’s teenage pregnancy rate stands at about 7 per cent of girls aged 15–19, with adolescent maternal mortality significantly higher than the national average. Dr Yvan Butera, State Minister of Health, argued that behaviour change campaigns and education alone had not been sufficient, and that legal obstacles to accessing services were contributing to unintended pregnancies and their attendant social, economic and health costs. Economists have warned that teenage pregnancies carry a heavy macroeconomic price. A 2023 World Bank study estimated that early childbearing costs sub-Saharan Africa billions of dollars annually in lost productivity, reduced labour participation and higher public health spending.
In Rwanda, the Ministry of Education has calculated that school dropouts linked to pregnancy account for more than 10 per cent of female secondary school attrition, undermining human capital investment. Each dropout reduces lifetime earnings potential, lowers tax contributions, and increases dependence on social support. By expanding contraceptive access, Kigali hopes to mitigate these structural losses. Under Rwandan law, the age of consent to sexual activity remains separate from health-law consent thresholds. Lowering the age for accessing SRH services does not legalise sexual activity for minors or change criminal laws regarding sexual abuse or statutory rape.
The reform seeks to reduce harm — maternal mortality, unsafe abortion, malnutrition in children born to teenage mothers — rather than alter moral or criminal norms. A number of countries distinguish between medical consent and sexual consent.
In European Union member states, reproductive or sexual health services often can be accessed from age 15-16 without parental consent, even if the age of sexual consent is similar or higher. In Denmark and Slovenia, for instance, 15-year-olds may access such services independently. In sub-Saharan Africa, the picture is mixed. In Kenya, nearly one in five girls aged 15–19 has begun childbearing, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, yet the law still requires parental consent for adolescents under 18 to access contraception. In Uganda, where 25 per cent of girls aged 15–19 are mothers or pregnant with their first child, restrictive legal frameworks and stigma limit access to SRH services. South Africa, by contrast, allows adolescents from age 12 to access contraceptives without parental consent, and its teenage pregnancy rate, though rising in recent years, is lower at around 16 per cent, with studies crediting earlier contraceptive access for better outcomes compared to regional peers.
Policy-advisers note that legal and cultural barriers often delay access to contraception, HIV testing or other reproductive health services in much of the region, even where early pregnancies and child marriages remain prevalent. In Rwanda, the change has stirred debate. Retired health worker and parent Karemera Charlotte cautioned against what she described as a “dangerous door” being opened, arguing that provision of contraceptives to 15-year-olds could erode moral norms and possibly increase abortion. Supporters, including NGOs, see the law as overdue. John Scarius of the Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development said: “What the parliament has done is a good thing, it’s good they looked at this from a progressive standpoint.”
In Kenya, Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris welcomed the decision, noting that teenage pregnancies were a regional crisis. “We cannot continue burying our heads in the sand while young girls are being driven out of school and into cycles of poverty because of unplanned pregnancies. Rwanda’s decision is courageous, and I believe Kenya should have a similar conversation,” she said.
Proponents believe the law will reduce unintended teenage pregnancies, reduce school dropouts and improve maternal and child health outcomes. Critics argue it may clash with prevailing cultural, religious and social norms, possibly provoking backlash. It is also unclear how the law will be implemented in rural areas, and whether adolescents will feel safe and empowered to use these services without parental involvement.
