Cases of unsafe abortion on the rise in Kisumu County

On 27 March in Kuoyo Kaila Kisumu County, I saw the consequences of unsafe abortion first hand when a young lady screamed desperately to get help for her 16-year-old sister. Immediately I ran towards her house to find her sister in a bad state. I was horrified by what I saw. Anyango was in pain and agony. She had inserted a sharp stick into her cervix in an attempt to terminate her pregnancy but she wasn’t lucky, the stick had broken inside her uterus. Anyango was bleeding profusely and time was not on her side. Sadly, she lost a lot of blood and could not endure the pain anymore.  She died when help was on its way.

Anyango’s sister explained to me that her sibling was prepared to take the risk with her health so that she could finish her high school education and go to the university to study nursing and after that get a job and help her family and community. She was their only hope. Now they were left hopeless.

 “I don’t want what has happened to my sister to happen to any other girl here in Kuoyo Kaila. Tell other girls that they should not be in the habit of performing unsafe abortion because it’s not good. My sister was only afraid” Anyango’s sister whispered to me as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Unfortunately, cases of deaths caused by unsafe abortion in Kuoyo Kaila aren’t unusual. In Kisumu county unsafe abortion do happen a lot but women hide it because of the stigma associated with abortion. They worry that people will say nasty things about them. In Kenya, abortion is not permitted so young girls and women often turn to quacks or midwives or other dangerous options. As a result, some women die after the procedure while others suffer complications that haunt them for the rest of their lives.

It is estimated that over 40,000 women die every year because of unsafe abortion. This accounts to 13% of all maternal deaths. Most women in Kenya use extreme measures to end their pregnancy simply because the law doesn’t allow it and they don’t know where to turn to for help and support.

I talked to a senior nurse in Kisumu County and what he revealed to me was shocking. For every ten women who give birth at their medical facility, another woman is treated for complications after an unsafe abortion.  He says unsafe abortion is still a problem in our society and most of his clients who are mostly teenager’s end up dead or with complications that lead to lifelong problems such as infertility.

The constitution of Kenya under article 43 states that. (1) Every person has the right— (a) to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to health care services, including reproductive health care. Safe Abortion services falls under reproductive health care. The county government of Kisumu should train its health workers on how to address unsafe abortion and how to offer safe abortion services. The county government of Kisumu should also offer civic education on the dangers of unsafe abortion and also arrest the all quacks.