Police are holding two women in connection to procuring abortion offences in Nairobi’s Matopeni area in Kayole.
Area Chief Namusia Asman reported the matter and a foetus recovered dumped in a basin.
A 45 years old woman identified as Mary Ayuma was apprehended by the police for helping a 30 years old woman identified as Anyango to procure abortion.
“The alleged mother has been escorted to Mama Lucy Hospital and admitted in stable condition. Mary Ayuma has been arrested and is in police custody pending further investigations.” A police source intimated.
Scene of Crime police photographed the foetus and ferried to City Mortuary awaiting postmortem analysis.
Cases of unsafe abortion across the country are on the rise resulting from rape and defilement among young girls and or consensual sex amongst mature ladies especially during the Covid-19 pandemic period.
Previous reports have also indicated married women in Nairobi are ranked the top cadre in procuring abortion.
A study by Marie Stopes Kenya two years ago showed about a quarter of women procuring abortion in Nairobi are either married, living with a partner or cohabiting.
One of its six clinics in Nairobi showed 22.4 per cent of women seeking abortion services were in a union.
The study published on November 25, 2019, in the journal Plos One reflects data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicating almost a half of pregnancies among married women in Kenya are unintended.
In 2003, the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) showed that nearly 50 per cent of unmarried women aged between 15 and 19 years, and 45 per cent of the married women reported their then pregnancies as mistimed or unwanted.
The 2008–2009 KDHS showed that 43 per cent of married women in Kenya reported their pregnancies as unintended – 26 per cent mistimed and 17 per cent unwanted.
Five years later, the KDHS 2014 showed half of currently married women aged between 15 and 49, and 42 per cent of currently married women aged between 15 and 49 do not want any more children.
Other recent studies in Nairobi have shown the main reason for induced abortions were socio-economic stress and lack of support from partners.
The biggest reason for pharmacy attendants denying clients abortion services, the study showed, was not health of the mother but their inability to pay.
