New continental survey findings released by non-partisan research network Afrobarometer reveal that majorities across West, Central, East, and Southern Africa strongly support women’s marital and reproductive autonomy, comprehensive school-based sexuality education, and the right of pregnant girls to continue their education, though public opinion remains sharply divided on abortion and unrestricted access to contraceptives.<\/p>\n
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The series of regional dispatches, drawing from public opinion data collected across 35 African nations between January 2024 and September 2025, indicates broad public backing for fundamental female decision-making rights. On average, 80% of East Africans, 79% of Southern Africans, and 72% of West and Central Africans agree that girls and women should be allowed to decide for themselves whether and when to marry.<\/p>\n
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According to the data, support for teaching sexuality education in schools exceeds 78% across all surveyed sub-regions, while over 79% of respondents in East, West, Central, and Southern Africa maintain that girls who fall pregnant should be permitted to remain in school.<\/p>\n
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However, continental consensus weakens regarding reproductive healthcare access. While 73% of citizens in Southern Africa support providing contraceptives to anyone who is sexually active regardless of marital status, support drops to 58% in East Africa and remains highly contested across West and Central Africa.<\/p>\n
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On the issue of abortion, majorities across all three regions agree that pregnancy termination can be justified if a woman’s life or health is at risk, reaching 67% in East Africa, 63% in West and Central Africa, and 58% in Southern Africa,but overwhelming majorities reject abortion on economic grounds or personal preference.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica\/Afrobarometer–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21712,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-45865","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Afrobarometer findings highlight regional consensus on girls' education and reproductive rights","published_date":"2026-09-18 12:23:10","news_description":"Afrobarometer findings highlight regional consensus on girls' education and reproductive rights","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45866,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45865\/revisions\/45866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=45865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}