Shocking statistics should make us to re-look abortion laws

Abortion laws and legislation on unborn baby as a fetus with a justice judge gavel representing the social issue and concept of rights with 3D illustration elements. [Courtesy/iStockphoto]

Recently, I attended the launch of the National Study on the Incidence of Induced Abortions and the Severity of Abortion-Related Complications in Kenya. The findings? Eye-opening. But the online reaction? Even more telling.

It turns out that 79 per cent of post-abortion care patients are married women, and 90 per cent identify as Christians. Yes, you read that right, Christian, married women. So much for the age-old myth that abortion is a sinful pastime reserved for reckless teenagers.

For too long, Kenya has clung to a harmful stereotype; that abortion is the consequence of youth, immorality, and poor decision-making. But the data says otherwise. The majority of those seeking abortion services are women aged 25–34, many of whom have already had children. So if we’re being honest, this isn’t a story of careless girls. It’s about grown women, wives, mothers, Christians, making private decisions in a hostile legal and moral climate.

Since the last national study in 2012, the number of induced abortions has gone up. Interestingly, the number of unintended pregnancies has gone down. That could suggest improved access to contraception and growing bodily autonomy among women, a sliver of good news in an otherwise grim reality.

But let’s not celebrate just yet. Harmful methods still account for 8 per cent of abortions, and deaths from unsafe procedures are disturbingly common. Why? Because stigma kills. It pushes women into silence, into secrecy, and too often, into the grave.

And here’s where things get uncomfortable. Article 26(4) of our Constitution clearly allows abortion under specific conditions. Kenyan courts have affirmed that abortion is a right.

Informed choices

International agreements like the Maputo Protocol have expanded that understanding even further. But what does our government do? It slaps a reservation on Article 14.2(c), the very provision that supports abortion for health reasons. It's like being handed a life raft and choosing to poke holes in it.

Even the Church, whose faithful make up the majority of abortion patients, remains suspicious of comprehensive sexuality education, the very thing that could reduce unintended pregnancies and promote informed choices. You can’t preach morality on Sunday and block access to information on Monday. That’s not piety, it’s hypocrisy.

The study also emphasises the need for robust post-abortion care. Absolutely. But we must go beyond treating the aftermath and confront the legal ambiguity that drives women underground in the first place. Most Kenyans still believe abortion is completely illegal, and that confusion breeds fear, shame, and silence.

This month, as we mark the United Nations International Day of Families under a theme focusing on Family-Oriented Policies for Sustainable Development, let’s remember that families thrive when women are alive. That includes mothers, daughters, sisters and yes, Christians, who deserve safe, legal, and stigma-free abortion services.

Let’s stop hiding behind the pulpit and start rewriting the policy. Streamlining Kenya’s abortion laws isn’t about morality, it’s about survival.

Ms Kavutha is a Human Rights lawyer and Advocate of The High Court of Kenya.

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