Abstract:
Adolescents’ early sexual debut contributes to their huge burden of sexual
and reproductive ill-health, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Reports
continually reveal that female adolescents, in particular, constitute a large
portion of the 34 million people living with HIV worldwide. Other
consequences associated with early adolescent sexuality include
unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortions and sexually-transmitted
infections. In light of this, the article analyses approaches adopted by
Nigeria and South Africa in fulfilling their international law obligations to
respect, protect and fulfil adolescent girls’ right to access contraceptive
information and services, specifically, in their domestic legislation, policy
documents and court decisions. Sexuality education is compared, as well
as actual access. There is extensive evidence of the measures put in place
to ensure adolescent girls’ access to contraceptive information and
services in Nigeria and South Africa. Although the level and extent of the
barriers faced by adolescent girls when accessing contraceptive services and information vary, the consequences are similar: We find that Nigerian
and South African adolescent girls, generally, lack access to contraceptive
information and services. Despite measures to ensure adolescent girls’
access to contraceptive information and services in Nigeria and South
Africa, several gaps remain.
