Kenya – Groups push for protection of women’s right to abortion

Monday, September 30, 2024
George Kebaso

Civil society organisations have renewed calls for decriminalising abortion, sounding the alarm that many young girls are dying because they are procuring unsafe abortion from quack doctors.

About 10 organisations congregated at the Riruta stadium in Dagoretti South constituency to commemorate this year’s International Safe Abortion Day and raise awareness about safe abortions.

Continued: https://peopledaily.digital/groups-push-for-protection-of-womens-right-to-abortion/

30.09.2024

News

#abortionsolidarity

International Safe Abortion Day

Kenya – Haunted by abortion, failed by policymakers

Thousands of women are dying every year in Kenya due to botched backstreet abortions.

Monday, September 30, 2024
By Hellen Shikanda

As we drive along the backstreets of Kibra slums in Nairobi, there are shoes dangling on power lines every few metres. Everyone has their theory as to what that signifies; one of those being that the shoes are mementos for people who died along those streets. The further we drive, the more we encounter them.

While the crammed houses and uninviting narrow alleys between them exude gloomy conditions, there is a visible sense of vibrancy in the people when they are outside.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/health/haunted-by-abortion-failed-by-policymakers-4777778

30.09.2024

Commentary

Centre for Reproductive Rights

Hellen Shikanda

International Safe Abortion Day

Joachim Osur

Martin Onyango

National Reproductive Health Policy

Nelly Munyasia

Reproductive Health Network Kenya

Kenya – A decade of pleading: My exhausting fight for safe abortion rights

Unsafe abortion cases are contributing to high maternal mortality. The high number can be attributed to unplanned pregnancies.

Saturday, September 28, 2024
By SAOYO TABITHA

For a decade, I've fought tirelessly for safe abortion rights, battling against religious dogma, political apathy, and societal stigma.
The constant struggle to justify women's choices, share traumatic stories, and combat misinformation has left me physically, emotionally, and mentally drained.
Now, as I reflect on the lives lost and the toll this fight has taken on me, I realise I need others to take up the cause while I step back to mourn.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/gender/a-decade-of-pleading-my-exhausting-fight-for-safe-abortion-rights-4775410

28.09.2024

Opinion

abortion stigma

Fida Kenya

International Day for Safe Abortion

religious dogma

Reproductive Health and Rights Alliance

Kenya – How community dialogue is increasing demand for family planning products

Thursday, September 26, 2024
By Angeline Ochieng

It’s a hot afternoon and the fields of Bugar in Elgeyo Marakwet, usually abuzz with activity as farmers prepare for the approaching maize harvesting season, are quiet.

Instead of tending to their crops, a group of 30 residents, men and women, have gathered at Bugar market. They are listening to Alice Kibet, a Community Health Promoter (CHP) from Kapsaisi village in Keiyo North. Her voice is firm as the attentive audience hangs onto her words. Today, the market is serving as a classroom.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/health/how-community-dialogue-is-increasing-demand-for-family-planning-products-4776324#google_vignette

26.09.2024

Commentary

Alice Kebit

Community Health Promoter

Everlyne Kangongo

Jonathan Tanui

Kenya Demographic Health Survey

UNFPA

World Contraception Day

Africa

Kenya

Contraception

Deadly reality of unsafe abortions done in Kenya

An estimated 2,600 Kenyan women die every year from complications due to unsafe abortions. These deaths are entirely preventable.

Tuesday, September 24, 2024
By Kavutha Mutua

A few days ago, I stumbled upon a tweet from a young woman desperately seeking information on how to obtain an abortion at a well-known healthcare facility in Nairobi and how much it would cost.

The responses flooded in, but most of them didn’t point her towards safe, regulated services, Instead, the replies offered cheaper, clandestine alternatives in informal settlements. One particularly chilling reply mentioned a “chwom” – a hidden, makeshift location charging a mere Sh2,000.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs-opinion/blogs/-deadly-reality-of-unsafe-abortions-done-in-kenya--4773900

24.09.2024

Commentary

abortion is a fundamental right

FIDA-Kenya

International Safe Abortion Day

Kavutha Mutua

Maputo Protocol

standard guidelines for safe abortion

Kenya – Evelyne Opondo is championing change

Sunday, September 08, 2024
By Wanja Mbuthia, Nation Media Group

Talking with the soft-spoken Evelyne Opondo feels like chatting with a big sister in many ways. She’s warm and laughs easily. She is a great listener too, who thinks through every question before answering and projects an air of a trustworthy and dependable person. A lawyer, Ms Opondo is the Africa Director at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), where she leads the organisation’s strategies and mission in Africa. Seated at an eatery in Nairobi’s Kileleshwa area, she reflects on the challenges, accomplishments, and lessons she has gathered from over two decades of advocating for the rights of women and girls.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/evelyne-opondo-is-championing-change--4752200

08.09.2024

Commentary

Interviews/Podcasts

Centre for Reproductive Rights

Evelyne Opondo

International Center for Research on Women

Activists address reality of unsafe abortions in Kenya

August 04, 2024
by Halima Gongo
Video: 3:17 minutes

Abortion is restricted in Kenya, but in Kilifi County on the southern coast many women and girls with unplanned pregnancies say they have no choice but to undergo dangerous abortions without the intervention of a nurse or doctor. Local activists say the practice is contributing to high maternal mortality in the region. Halima Gongo reports.

Continued: https://www.voanews.com/a/activists-address-reality-of-unsafe-abortions-in-kenya/7729603.html

04.08.2024

‘Ready or Not’ campaign aims to improve dialogue on safe abortions

By David Njaaga
Jul 30, 2024

A leading healthcare company has launched a new campaign to break the silence on transforming the narrative around women's healthcare including pregnancy termination.

The "Ready or Not" campaign, initiated by VIYA Health, seeks to dismantle taboos and promote open dialogue about this crucial aspect of women's reproductive health.

Continued: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/sports/health-science/article/2001499974/ready-or-not-campaign-aims-to-improve-dialogue-on-safe-abortions

30.07.2024

News

Kenya Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society

Maureen Ondego

Ready or Not campaign

Bottlenecks in the law against abortion fueling deaths in post abortion care

Monday, April 29th, 2024
By George Kebaso

Remove hurdles that stand in the way of safe abortion for women in the country, especially teenagers, a group of civil society organisations and individual pharmacists have urged the government.

The argument is that even as the country’s laws have criminalised abortion, unintended pregnancies among young women in Kenya are still on the spiral, same as unsafe terminations of pregnancies, and increased trips to pharmacies for emergency contraceptives.

Continued: https://www.pd.co.ke/lifestyle/bottlenecks-in-the-law-against-abortion-fueling-deaths-in-post-abortion-care-231971/

Ambiguous Abortion Laws Threaten Kenyan Women

Kate Gargano
April 27, 2024

The nature and wording of Kenyan abortion laws which prevent women from receiving safe abortions have recently come into question. As of 2010, Kenya’s constitution was revised to allow for abortions when the life of the mother is in danger or when the pregnancy was a result of rape and/or incest. However, legal avenues to receive an abortion continue to be restricted. Arbitrary enforcement of the pre-2010 constitution’s anti-abortion rhetoric, which not only banned abortions but also sought to punish those who performed them, causes confusion as to the procedure’s legality. Thus, doctors refrain from offering abortion procedures – forcing women, especially the impoverished and those living outside the capital, to resort to backstreet methods to receive the abortions they need. This discrepancy between what the law theoretically allows and the measures that are feasibly possible for someone in need to take has promoted a culture of precarity and fear for women and their advocates.

Continued: https://theowp.org/ambiguous-abortion-laws-threaten-kenyan-women/

27.04.2024