On 29 November 2023, Eunice Brookman‑Amissah stepped onto a stage in Stockholm to receive the Right Livelihood Award, a prize often described as the “Alternative Nobel.” The accolade recognised not a single breakthrough but a multi‑decade effort that opened pathways to legal abortion across several African nations. Brookman‑Amissah, a Ghanaian physician and former Minister of Health, has been instrumental in changing legislation and practice in Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Benin, Eswatini and Kenya.
These countries now serve as examples that reproductive‑health reform can endure in societies where abortion is heavily stigmatised and criminalised. Her strategy hinged on coalition‑building. By convening doctors, government officials, lawyers and activists in the same rooms, she created networks capable of influencing policy from the grassroots to the highest courts.
Such collaboration required years of trust‑building; convincing a health minister to sit with a feminist lawyer in a context where abortion is penalised is a complex, long‑term process. Brookman‑Amissah’s medical credentials opened doors.
As the first female vice‑president of the Ghana Medical Association, she carried the authority of a physician into political negotiations. Her experience treating complications from unsafe abortions—severe bleeding, preventable infections and sepsis that claimed young mothers—shaped her public‑health‑focused arguments, steering the debate away from moral rhetoric. The impact of her work is measurable. In Mozambique, reforms she helped craft led to a decline in maternal deaths linked to unsafe procedures.
Benin’s legal framework was expanded to permit abortion under broader circumstances, while Kenya’s constitutional amendments on reproductive rights drew on a model she contributed to. Though each nation’s reform path differed, the common thread remained: inclusive engagement of every stakeholder, from rural nurses to capital‑city judges.
Brookman‑Amissah shared the Right Livelihood Award with three other laureates: Mother Nature Cambodia, which opposes environmental damage in the Mekong region; Phyllis Omido, who uncovered lead poisoning in Kenya’s informal settlements; and SOS Méditerranée, a rescue organisation operating in the central Mediterranean. Together, the four recipients underscore the foundation’s emphasis on work that saves lives rather than merely advancing ideas. The Stockholm ceremony amplified Brookman‑Amissah’s platform at a time when anti‑abortion campaigns are intensifying across Africa.
Well‑funded groups, including American evangelical organisations, are financing efforts to reverse recent reforms. Religious leaders and conservative politicians continue to exert pressure in the countries where she has worked.
While the prize includes a monetary component and heightened visibility, its true value may lie in signalling to other African health professionals that advocacy for safe abortion is internationally recognised. A Ghanaian doctor receiving a global award for expanding abortion access sends a clear message to emerging physicians in Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania: the struggle is legitimate, the methods have proven results, and the world is watching. At 78, Brookman‑Amissah has already mentored successors and ensured that the coalitions she built possess independent momentum.
The coming decade will test whether the reforms she helped secure can survive beyond her direct involvement. The Stockholm event, therefore, represents not only a celebration of past achievements but also a handover to the next generation of advocates.
