High Court to Proceed with Trial on Antigua and Barbuda’s Abortion Laws

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​The High Court has further delayed proceedings in the constitutional challenge to Antigua and Barbuda’s abortion legislation, as stakeholders await a pending appeals court decision expected later this month.

The case, which questions the constitutionality of the country’s 163-year-old Offences Against the Person Act, has drawn significant attention since the government’s appeal of an October ruling.

In that decision, Justice Jan Drysdale dismissed the government’s attempt to strike out the case and ordered the Attorney General’s Chambers to pay $1,500 to abortion rights activists.

The current legislation maintains strict restrictions on reproductive healthcare, imposing severe penalties including up to ten years’ imprisonment for women who terminate pregnancies and two years for those providing assistance.

The law permits abortion only in cases where the mother’s life is at risk.

​During last year’s proceedings, Attorney David Dorsett, representing the Attorney General, introduced a legal argument suggesting that the Sexual Offences Act of 1995 had effectively repealed the challenged sections.

However, Justice Drysdale determined that such matters of repeal require constitutional interpretation and warrant full consideration due to their significant public interest implications.

The activist group pursuing this legal challenge seeks to have the existing legislation declared unconstitutional, a ruling that could fundamentally alter the reproductive rights landscape in Antigua and Barbuda.