Kenya abortion: Women go to backstreet clinics amid legal ambiguity

Legal ambiguity over abortions in Kenya is pushing thousands of women to turn to backstreet clinics. BBC Africa Eye explores how abortion is shrouded in stigma and misinformation.

26th November 2023
By Zoe Flood, Linda Ngari & Tamasin Ford, BBC Africa Eye, Nairobi & London

Edith is lying on a bed covered in old newspaper in a backstreet clinic in Nairobi.

Her legs are held high by stirrups while a man in a white medical coat explains he is about to put some medicine inside her uterus. A red bucket of bleach containing medical instruments sits on the floor.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67473183


Kenya – the New Government’s Chance to Secure Reproductive Rights

7 SEPTEMBER 2022
By Stephanie Musho

Kenya's sexual health rights are beholden to US decisionmakers. New legislators must take back control.

For too long, sexual and reproductive rights in Kenya have operated in a vacuum. Despite the constitution providing for the "highest attainable standard" of reproductive health, legislators have failed to enact any legislation on the issue, shooting down a bill in 2014 and another in 2019. The outgoing administration of Uhuru Kenyatta has opposed the delivery of sex education and contraception to adolescent and failed to support teenage mothers.

Continued: https://allafrica.com/stories/202209080005.html


Just like in US, Kenya abortion rights battle to be decided at fall of judge’s gavel

By Kamau Muthoni
Jul 12th 2022

A judgement in the US that ended the right to abortion has thrust two Kenyan cases into the limelight.

The US Supreme Court, last month, reversed Roe v. Wade, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion, upheld for nearly a half a century, no longer exists.

Continued: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/health-science/article/2001450130/just-like-in-us-kenya-abortion-rights-battle-to-be-decided-at-fall-of-judges-gavel


Abortion, LGBTI rights stir emotions on eve of Nairobi summit

Abortion, LGBTI rights stir emotions on eve of Nairobi summit

By Sara Jerving
12 November 2019

NAIROBI — In the lead up to a major global United Nations conference on reproductive and sexual health in Kenya, topics such as abortion, LGBTI rights, and contraceptives for adolescents have stirred controversy among faith communities and conservative advocacy groups. These reactions to the summit illustrate some of the challenges that health professionals face in expanding access to services for women and girls globally.

The Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, which started Tuesday, is being held 25 years after the first International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. At that Cairo summit, a landmark document was agreed upon that is credited with creating a women and girl-centered approach to family planning, focused on human rights and choice. The U.N. hasn’t convened a conference of this magnitude on sexual and reproductive health since the 1994 summit. Over 6,000 people from 165 countries are expected to attend this week.

Continued: https://www.devex.com/news/abortion-lgbti-rights-stir-emotions-on-eve-of-nairobi-summit-96018