| Tucked away in the winding halls of Kenyatta, the country’s largest hospital, is a ward that handles acute gynaecology issues. Dozens of women with complications from unsafe abortions pass through it each month. More than 40% of pregnancies in Kenya are not planned, according to a study from 2012, the latest year for which data is available, by the health ministry and the African Population and Health Research Centre. And while the Kenyan constitution permits abortion only when a woman’s life or health is in danger and emergency treatment is necessary, the study found in the same year that nearly half a million abortions were carried out. This translates to one in every 21 Kenyan women of childbearing age having an abortion in that year alone.SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN |
