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Confessions of campus girls who have procured abortions


A first look at Isabel* will not reveal her past struggle with procuring abortions and the pain she has been through in doctors’ rooms.

Neither will looking at her age-mate Alice* tell of the shock of being impregnated by a cousin while on a drinking spree and having to terminate the pregnancy.

This is the story of two women who have lived to bear the brunt of campus life while the unlucky ones have had their young lives ended during abortion.

Many have lost their lives in planned abortions gone wrong while the lucky ones have lived to recount the ordeal and possibly do it again. Isabel, a 4th year Mass Communication student procured her second abortion a few weeks ago.

The first one took place three years ago and was too painful that her memory only holds a few scenes of the procedure.

“I procured the first one in my first year. My then boyfriend gave me Sh 1,500 and a friend took me to a doctor who worked on me. It was painful and I was so weak not to mention the heavy bleeding,” narrates Isabel.

Early this year Isabel had to deal with the pain of losing a friend after a botched abortion.

She had to swallow the bitter reality that the same girl who introduced her to abortion was no more courtesy of the same procedure.

“After her death, I swore never to do it again. Unfortunately, I got pregnant and could not carry the pregnancy to term because I had slept with several men that month and I didn’t know who really impregnated me,” narrates Isabel.

She was unable to count the number of sexual encounters she had that month leave alone the men hence the decision.

PROCURED ABORTION

As she approached the doctor who would help her procure the abortion she was unable to forget how her friend’s life ended hours after she started a similar procedure but for Isabel, there was no turning back.

Alice, a former Statistic and Programming students at Kenyatta University has procured one abortion.

The decision was informed by the fact that the pregnancy belonged to her cousin, one that would have been an abomination to keep and yet another to terminate.

“I had gone out to have fun with my cousin and his friends. I must have had one too many. We went to my cousins’ house and had sex. After a few weeks I realized I was pregnant,” recalls Alice.

Bearing in mind her family background and societal view on children born out of sex between relatives, she made a decision.

“There is no way in earth I was going to bear my cousin a baby. I had to do the necessary,” says Alice with a deep sigh.

This killer menace of unplanned pregnancies and irresponsible sexual behaviors continues to rob the society young brains and it seems no girl wants to learn a lesson or two from others experiences.

After all, abortion pills are only a phone call away. And AIDS is no longer a big deal. Is it?

* Editor’s note: Real names of the subjects have been changed for privacy.