According to statistics from Kenya’s Ministry of Health 700 abortions are performed every day in the country on girls aged between 15 and 19 who might (financially) not be able to raise a child, did not use a condom and regretted or girls who were offered extra money if they would have sex without a condom by men. On top of that there are hundreds of rape cases and cases of domestic sexual violence each month.
This in a country where abortion is illegal. That is why a lot of abortions are taking place in secret in health centers, hospitals (if you are lucky) and a lot of them under much worse circumstances. I once head a story of a girl that had to lie down why people were hitting and pushing her on the stomach.
Another known method is bringing in a pin. Often done for a few shillings and under very bad hygienical circumstances. Results: girls get infected or even die not to talk about the emotional damage after an abortion.
From time to time you can read about embryos being found on odd places. Last year, more than 10 embryos were found in plastic bags in Nairobi river. Other stories go round that babies are being taken away in certain hospitals to be brought up in orphanages. Officially people don?t know, and even neglect that so many abortions are taking place. But theoretically every Kenyan must have somebody in his or her direct environment that has dealt with an abortion.
Two years ago a doctor who was doing tens of abortions a day for an affordable rate in Nairobi?s City Center was arrested. The man got sentenced to jail. Especially young girls and women are frequent victims of sexual violence. The law does not make an exception for these girls.
Now they are talking about the introduction of an abortion pill in Kenya. The medicine is available under the name Misoprostol. It works for stomach diseases and officially it is not known as an abortion pill. The NGO Women on Waves is working on legalizing the abortion pill but they will get a hard time in this country where only yesterday a member of parliament said in a debate about a new law for sexual offences: ?If women say no to sex, they in fact say yes.? Yes this guy was serious.
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