Angola decriminalizes same-sex relations, allows abortion in certain cases

The Angolan parliament has, for the first time since its independence from Portugal, approved a new criminal code that does not punish relations between people of the same sex and decriminalizes abortion in specific cases, an international human rights group reported on Thursday.

The old criminal code, adopted in 1886 and left unaltered after the African country's independence in 1975, established jail sentences ranging from six months to three years for the ambiguous offence of "vices against nature," which has been widely interpreted to constitute a 'de facto' ban on homosexual conduct.

The non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch, headquartered in New York City, praised the move by Angolan lawmakers in a statement.

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"In casting aside this archaic and insidious relic of the colonial past, Angola has eschewed discrimination and embraced equality," HRW said in a statement signed by the director of its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights program, Graeme Reid.

Reid added that the Angolan government had also prohibited discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation, making it a felony – punishable with up to two years in prison – to refuse to employ or provide services to individuals because of their sexuality.

The changes were officially enacted on Wednesday through the adoption of the new penal code, which had been 10 years in the making.

"While there have been no known prosecutions under the law, provisions like this one curtail the rights and freedoms of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, subjecting their intimate lives to unwarranted scrutiny," Reid explained, in reference to the old statute.

He added that colonial-era laws outlawing same-sex conduct provided tacit support to discrimination against gender and sexual minorities, which in turn contributed to a climate of impunity.

Reid cited the West African country's only LGBT rights lobby, Iris Angola, which he said had "often complained that its members face discrimination when accessing health care and education."

On the other hand, Angola has also decriminalized abortion in concrete instances such as a grave threat to the health or life of the mother or the fetus and for victims of rape.

In all other instances, aborting remains a crime punishable with between 2-10 years' imprisonment.

A previous draft of the bill had even considered allowing unrestricted abortions during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

The debate on abortion was one of the most contentious aspects of the penal reform, and the lack of support for it by the largest opposition party, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), prevented the law from being approved in the previous legislature, which ended in 2017.

The controversy surrounding abortion in Angola can be explained by its overwhelmingly Christian population, with over half the country estimated to be Catholic and about a quarter belonging to various Protestant congregations, although accurate statistics are non-existent.

The new code also raises the maximum prison term from 24 to 35 years and limits monetary transactions to 8,500 euros ($9,603) for citizens and 14,000 euros for businesses with the goal of preventing the flight of capital outside the Angolan financial system.