Today the world celebrates the International Safe Abortion Day which was first coined in 1990 as a move to decriminalize abortion.

In Kenya, abortion remains illegal except in situations of an emergency or one that puts the mother’s health at risk or where a medical expert recommends one. And until 2010, abortion was completely illegal.

All in all, that is not to say that it does not happen. People abort in secret due to fear of conviction and judgement by the society. However, this only puts the woman at a higher risk because they seek help from non-professionals.

Marie Stopes Kenya

In a move to create more awareness, Marie Stopes Kenya also took part in the celebrations themed “Normalizing Abortion. It’s part of our lives!’’.

ALSO READ: What happens to your body when you abort

The objectives of this day are; campaigning for women’s right to safe abortion and normalizing it, decriminalizing abortion, talking more about abortion and advocating for access to safe abortion.

By normalizing abortion, women will be freer to seek safe abortion options thus reducing the deaths that result from unsafe abortion. A study done in 2014 revealed that 7 women die every day in Kenya due to unsafe abortion.

Safe Abortions

Clearly, women need to be more enlightened and aware of where to get safe abortions without fear of victimization. But what’s safe abortion?

According to Marie Stopes, a safe abortion is simply a medical abortion that involves use of pills to terminate a pregnancy. However, it’s only legal if the pregnancy is not beyond nine weeks.

So, before risking your life and using unprofessional methods to procure an abortion, always know that there are safer methods to get help.