By MARION KITHI
Sat, Dec 18 2021
The number of women and girls from poor and marginalised communities seeking unsafe abortion services from traditional herbalists is on the rise in Kilifi.
According to the just-released report by The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), the use of traditional herbs for pregnancy termination has led to deaths among women and girls in the county.
April 29, 2021
By Venoranda Kuboka, Josephine Achieng and Maureen Kemunto
We don’t talk about religious fundamentalism enough, especially its negative effects on the rights, health and dignity of women in Kenya.
Religious fundamentalism is one of the most pervasive social maladies in Kenyan today, especially to the lives of women because it has stigmatized, restricted and criminalized access to essential reproductive health services.
Tagged “the abortion bill”, the Reproductive Healthcare bill of 2019 is, in fact a comprehensive document
Written by Laila Le Guen
Posted 30 March 2021
Reproductive rights in Kenya is an intimate and emotive topic where hard lines have been drawn on both sides. Pro- and anti-abortion campaigners keep cycling through episodes of heightened attention when high-profile cases arise and passions continue to run high. Meanwhile, the country registers numbers of unsafe abortions that are among the highest in Africa. Maternal mortality is high at about 6,000 deaths per year, 17 per cent of them from complications of unsafe abortion.
Limited legal recourse to access termination of pregnancy is a potential compromise that remains contested, leaving the two camps with a status quo that seems hard to shake off. What's at stake on both ends of this fiercely debated issue?
Unsafe abortion: The problem nobody wants to
talk about
By MERCY KAHENDA AND SAADA HASSAN
August 31st 2020
The images still sneak up to her when she least expects. They come unannounced,
and they torture her. Eve never imagined that the process of trying to get rid
of an unplanned baby could leave her with physical and emotional scars that
have refused to go away.
When she speaks of abortion, she whispers. The shame she feels lingers in every
word she utters.
“I get bad dreams and I am haunted by the
act,” she says.
Survey on Safe Abortion in Sierra Leone starts May
By Mabinty M. Kamara
21 March 2020
The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), an Independent Research Institution based in Kenya, in partnership with Statistics Sierra Leone, have announced that a proposed survey on safe abortion in Sierra Leone will start in May this year.
The revelation was made on Wednesday at a stakeholders’ conference held to discuss and understand common problems associated with abortion in the country.
Continued: https://www.politicosl.com/articles/survey-safe-abortion-sierra-leone-starts-may
Kenya split over campaign to give women the right to safe abortions
MP Esther Passaris says lives are being put at risk in a country where 40% of pregnancies are unplanned
Ginger Hervey in Nairobi
Tue 17 Mar 2020
The pills arrived with no instructions. Delivered on a Sunday to Joy’s home in Kayole, an informal settlement in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, by someone she didn’t know.
She had ordered them because she was pregnant, and didn’t want to be. At 19, she said, she couldn’t support a baby, and the father had stopped answering his phone after she told him. Desperate, she had asked an older friend, who said she knew someone who could help.
Statistics Sierra Leone to start survey on safe abortion
By Mabinty M. Kamara
16 March 2020
Statistics Sierra Leone, in Partnership with the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC), an independent research institution based in Kenya, is set to conduct a research on resources available to access safe abortion in Sierra Leone.
The research, according to Samuel Ansumana, Director of Communication and Information at Statistic Sierra Leone, falls under a four-year project “Challenging the Politics of Social Exclusion” (CPSE) project to be implemented in Sierra Leone.
Continued: https://www.politicosl.com/articles/statistics-sierra-leone-start-survey-safe-abortion
Deadly secrets and rise of abortion in marriages
A significant number of women who procure abortion for the first time are likely to do it again
By KINUTHIA MBURU
Feb 25, 2020
Evelyn Wambui (not her real name) had her career and family life all planned out. She wanted to have three children and a stable career by the age of 36. Everything had gone according to plan by the time she gave birth to her third born in February 2018. She had a good career as a human resource manager at an insurance firm in Nairobi. She was also married with two children aged eight and five years. Six months after the birth of her third born, Evelyn started taking birth control pills. “Pills were my most favourable option at the time. I was not ready to use an intrauterine coil. I had also ruled out the Jadelle levonorgestrel implant because of previous heavy menses and constant spotting,” she says.
Having taken her pills faithfully, Evelyn was shocked when she started to miss her periods last year. It started in August, a year after she started taking the pills. “I was not alarmed at first. I had taken my pills well and there was no way I could have been pregnant,” she says. But she knew something was wrong when she missed her periods for the second month in a row. “I became very anxious. I wanted to take a test, but I was afraid. I decided to wait it out for another month,” she adds.
Study reveals over 500,000 abortions are done yearly across the country
Most of these abortions are usually unsafe and result in various complications.
By WANJA MBUTHIA
Feb 18, 2020
While Kenya has made remarkable strides in several health indicators over the last few years, maternal mortality and morbidity remain a menace. A significant number of these deaths result from complications arising from unsafe abortions.
A nationwide study by the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other partners has revealed that over half a million abortions are procured in Kenya every year.
Shield women from avoidable deaths
Evelyne Opondo
24th Sep 2019
Nine years ago, the country was embroiled in an intense debate over whether to ratify the then draft constitution or not. The opposition to its passage was led by religious groups against the provision that would allow pregnant women to access abortion when a trained health professional deemed their life or health to be in danger.
The groups argued that Kenyan women would now access abortion anytime, anywhere and the procedure could be performed by any hospital worker. The Kenyan people, however, on August 4, 2010, passed the Constitution with a resounding 67 per cent in favour of the ratification.
Continued: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001343057/shield-women-from-avoidable-deaths
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