BY KASSIM MWALIMU ADINASI: “Had I not rushed my daughter to the hospital when I saw her frail and weak, I would have lost her,” says Angeline Wamalwa, a resident of Kamukuywa in Kimilili Sub-county, Bungoma County.

The harrowing ordeal occurred six years ago. Her daughter, then 17 years and a form three student at a local day school, had been lured into using unapproved methods to terminate a three-month pregnancy.

Fearing her widowed mother’s reaction to her “illicit intimacy,” she confided in a friend who offered a dangerous shortcut.

The process, according to Nancy (not her real name), involved starving for an entire day before consuming a two-liter concoction of various herbs provided by a local herbalist.

She was told the bleeding that followed would mark the end of her pregnancy.

“When it failed, the herbalist offered to pull the baby out,” Nancy recalls. Now married and a mother of two, the memory remains vivid. “He used old forceps to reach into my birth canal. The pain was too much.”

Nancy bled heavily that night, growing progressively weaker. By the following morning, the bleeding hadn’t stopped, and she was running out of sanitary pads.

Depleted by blood loss and suffering from a severe migraine, she found herself unable to perform even simple tasks like sweeping the floor.

“It was then that my mother discovered something was wrong. I couldn’t support myself; she immediately called a boda boda and rushed me to the hospital,” Nancy says.

At the facility, she opened up to a clinical officer who referred her to Bungoma County Referral Hospital. There, she received specialized care that saved her life. Following her recovery, post-abortion care and counseling proved instrumental in her healing.

“My daughter escaped death by a whisker,” says Ms Angeline. “This is something we could have handled if she had opened up earlier, rather than opting for unsafe methods.”

From her experience Ms Angeline, a small scale trader in Kimilili town, grew closer to her daughters offering them lessons on contraceptives.

“Other than Nancy, I have other two girls who are teenagers, I have ensured that we are close and I know that they are sexually active. We regularly discuss the use of contraceptives because I can’t bury my head in the sand and assume things are normal,” she added.

A few kilometers away in Webuye West, Florence (also not a real name) shares a similar story. Despite being married, Florence felt unready for a fourth child.

Her husband, a devoted Christian, was staunchly opposed to contraceptives.

A local pharmacy attendant attempted to help her terminate a four-month pregnancy, but the attempt failed, leaving her bleeding profusely.

Like Nancy, she eventually sought emergency care at Bungoma County Referral Hospital.

“After the incident, my husband relaxed her stance. Economically, I felt having a fourth child would hinder us from giving the three quality upbringing. The post abortion care was instrumental and it helped me,” noted Florence.

These cases reveal a deep-seated need for reproductive healthcare among both married and unmarried women in Kenya, particularly in rural areas.

According to a report released on May 2, 2025, titled “Incidence of Induced Abortions and the Severity of Abortion-related Complications in Kenya,” an estimated 792,694 women in the country procured an abortion in 2023.

Unsafe traditional methods accounted for 27 percent of these cases, while manual vacuum aspiration accounted for 12.5 percent.

The study established a rate of 57.3 induced abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–49.

The abortion rate was highest in Nairobi and the Central region (78.3 per 1,000), followed by Nyanza and Western (69.4), and Eastern (55.6). The Coast and North Eastern regions reported the lowest rates at 38.7 per 1,000.

Researchers attribute these numbers largely to a rise in unintended pregnancies, which totaled an estimated 1,435,988 in 2023, a rate of 103.8 per 1,000 women of reproductive age.

This rate peaked in the Nyanza and Western regions at 135.1.

Dr Ishmael Abbas, a medical professional from Homa Bay County, emphasized the need for better communication regarding Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR).

“It is time we talk as parents and guardians,” Dr Abbas said in a phone interview. “Adolescents are engaging in sex, and they need accurate information. It is not just about girls; they are engaging with boys, so the information must be inclusive.”

The hard stance by the religious organizations and cultural believes are other factors that affect the uptake of contraceptives, according to Dr Richard Odhiambo from Migori County Department of Health.

“There is increased sexual relations between older men and young girls, in most cases they end up in pregnancy. The same society that looks down upon young single mothers is the same that vilifies medically induced abortions,” Dr Odhiambo opined.

“We need discussions around these topics, or else cases like young girls in the rural parts of the country seeking unsafe abortions will still be witnessed