rights-based, women-centered and/or youth-friendly and free of coercion, discrimination and violence.28 In the case of contraception, States Parties should strive to ensure that user fees are not charged. [36] To encourage the uptake of sexual and reproductive health services, States Parties should develop and implement comprehensive sexuality education and information programmes. Age appropriate information about sex, sexuality, sexual and reproductive health rights and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS, should form part of the formal school curriculum and should also be disseminated widely among the general public, including in non-school settings and in media which reaches rural and remote settings.29 Comprehensive sexuality education should also include age appropriate information about what constitutes consent to sex, as distinct from consent to marriage, and information about gender, sexuality and social norms and stereotypes that perpetuate gender inequality and its manifestations, including child marriage. [37] In line with the obligation in Article 14(2)(c) of the Maputo Protocol and as further explained in General Comment Number 2 issued by the Commission, States Parties must protect the reproductive rights of women and girls by authorising medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest and where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the life of the mother. Because girls in child marriages are at such high risk of pregnancy related health complications, medical abortion in the instances contemplated by Article 14(2)(c) is of great consequence and must be provided. 28 29. 29 26. African Commission General Comment no 1 on article 14 of the Maputo Protocol, paragraph African Commission General Comment no 1 on article 14 of the Maputo Protocol, paragraph 20