A woman in Kenya is suing the Kenyan government for failure to provide safe and legal abortions, which caused her daughter – a 15-year-old rape victim – to suffer a kidney failure after undergoing the procedure illegally.
Currently, there are four petitioners on the case: the mother of the survivor, the Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya, and two other women’s rights advocates. The petitioners are calling on the government to provide expanded guidelines on when an abortion can be performed as well as safe abortion training for medical professionals.
Abortion is currently illegal in Kenya, with a narrow exception for women who prove her life or mental well-being are in danger. Due to Kenya’s restrictive laws, many women and girls have to seek illegal abortions which are often botched and dangerous.
“The Kenyan government is allowing thousands of women in Kenya to needlessly die or suffer severe complications every year due to unsafe abortion,” said Regional director of Africa for the Center of Reproductive Rights, Evelyne Opondo, “and it must be held accountable.”
Illegal abortion procedures in Kenya cause 35 percent of maternal deaths. In 2012, one-quarter of women and girls who had an illegal abortion had to hospitalized with serious health complications, including cervical damage, septic shock, and uterine perforation.
Last year, the Kenyan government received international attention on abortion access as well. The government chose to execute a nurse who drove a woman seeking an abortion to another hospital for advanced assessment before performing the abortion. The woman and fetus died in the car, and the nurse was charged with murder on two counts, illustrating that strict anti-abortion laws such as the ones in Kenya threaten the lives and well-being of both women and medical professionals.
Media resources: World Intellectual Property Organization, www.wipo.int; Reuters 06/26/15; Afromum 06/23/15; The Guardian 09/30/2014
