At the tender age of 19, Jane Maya* (not her real name) experienced a traumatic incident while trying to procure an abortion at a backstreet clinic in Nairobi’s Kibera slums.
She not only almost bled to death but also contracted an infection that made her body ooze a foul odour.
“For days, nobody wanted to get close to me. I would bathe 10 times a day but the smell persisted,” Maya narrates.
This is how her story started.
When her then boyfriend dumped her after she got pregnant, Maya turned to a neighbour, who took her to a backstreet clinic to procure an abortion.
Unfortunately for her, the abortion backfired and the medics abandoned her.
Afraid that they may report her to the police, Maya leapt back home in the middle of the night.
When she reached home, she boiled some water, hoping it would help to stop the bleeding. But it didn’t.
“So, I resigned to fate and decided to let nature take its course because knew I was dying,” Maya says.
Luckily for her, the same woman who had taken her to the backstreet clinic visited her the following day and offered to help in the most unconventional way.
“After a close examination, she told me the heavy bleeding was caused by some foetal tissues that were still in my womb and needed to be removed. And which tool was she going to use to remove it? A mwiko [wooden cooking stick],” Maya says.
The woman took the cooking stick and inserted it in her vagina in an attempt to clean her uterus.
After a few minutes of excruciating pain, she removed it and put some clothes on her vagina to control the blood flow.
While the bleeding may have stopped after some time, something traumatic happened to her: she incurred an infection.
“I smelled like a corpse and the worst part is that I had no idea it was an infection,” she says.
“No one wanted to get close to me. Everyone in the community referred to me as a walking mortuary.”
Holed up in her room for days, she almost sunk into depression, owing to shame and stigma, until a friend reached out to her.
“She told me she had heard of my ordeal and wanted to help,” Maya says.
“After explaining to her what had happened, she told me the foul smell was caused by an infection I incurred from the botched abortion. She further said I could get treatment.’
At the clinic, a swab was done to identify the specific bacteria that caused the infection and the results were used to determine the antibiotic to treat it effectively.
COMPLICATED PROBLEM
Dr Musoba Kitui describes unsafe abortion as the use of unqualified health service providers and unsterile equipment that may result in infections, severe haemorrhage and uterus perforation.
He says foul-smelling discharge indicates acute bacterial infection from retained products of conception or dirty equipment.
“Immediate complications caused by the infection include sceptic shock, multi-organ failure, pelvic abscesses and other generalised infections,” Musoba says.
“If severe, removing the uterus may be necessary to save life. Long-term reproductive consequences that involve permanent or secondary infertility due to blocked fallopian tubes or uterine scarring, chronic pelvic pain and future ectopic pregnancies may also be experienced.”
Article 26(4) of the Constitution of Kenya says abortion is permitted if a trained health professional determines there is need for emergency treatment or if the life or health (physical, mental or social well-being) of the mother is in danger.
Advocacy groups in Kenya primarily campaign to ensure these constitutional rights are protected to prevent deaths from unsafe clandestine abortions, and to guarantee access to Post-Abortion Care.
Activist Mary Njoki from Githurai in Nairobi, says many young women resort to unsafe abortion due to stigma from friends and family.
“Many of these girls use whatever is within their proximity, such as detergents, sugar and herbal mixtures sold on the streets, to terminate pregnancies. These items are very dangerous and can in most cases kill,” she says.
Njoki, who has had to shut her counselling centre in Mathare due to cutbacks in donor funding, says she is worried that lack of access to information or post abortion care services may increase the number of unsafe abortion cases.
“Before I closed shop, my centre would receive close to five girls a day for SRHR (Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights) counselling on contraceptives, while a few would come seeking help with post-abortion care,” she says.
“Let’s face is, young girls are engaging in sex from as early as 12 years. Some of them do this due to vulnerability; they probably want money for sanitary towels or even lack food back at home. Condemning these girls and telling them to turn to Jesus may not help a lot.”
Njoki argues that condemnation often silences girls instead of helping them access healthcare.
“When a girl becomes pregnant, society calls it ujinga instead of listening to her. Many are judged harshly and told the pregnancy was out of their lack of good morals,” she says.
“We have organisations willing to help, but we need people who actually reach the ground and support these girls. Many are afraid to speak because they know the community will condemn them.”
A national study published in May 2025 by the Ministry of Health, APHRC and the Guttmacher Institute estimated that 792,694 induced abortions occurred in Kenya in 2023.
The study also found that only 18 per cent of primary-level facilities and 24 per cent of referral-level facilities met the standards for comprehensive post-abortion care.
Globally, the World Health Organisation’s December 2025 fact sheet estimates that about 73 million induced abortions occur annually, with around 45 per cent classified as unsafe.
A review covering 2009–2020 found that abortion accounted for eight per cent of maternal deaths worldwide.
These figures reinforce the need for accessible contraception, accurate reproductive health information, lawful and safe abortion care, and timely post-abortion treatment. Authorities must investigate reports of abandoned foetuses, while families and communities must replace condemnation with support.
HURDLES FACED
The challenge extends beyond hospitals and legislation. Girls need to know where to seek help, health workers need to provide appropriate care without discrimination, and policymakers must ensure that constitutional protections translate into services on the ground.
Maya, on the other hand, attributes her botched abortion predicament to lack of information about post-abortion care (PAC). She says had she known about it, she wouldn’t have had to suffer as much.
The now PAC campaigner says while many major strides about access to PAC have been made since her ordeal, it is unfortunate that Kenya is experiencing major resistance to the gains made.
One of the pushbacks is the May Court of Appeal ruling that quashed a petition filed to stop a criminal case against a young woman who received post-abortion care and a healthcare provider who administered it.
The landmark ruling meant that the criminal proceedings against the two that were quashed by the High Court were reinstated and the trial would proceed.
The Court of Appeal pegged the ruling on sections 158-160 of the Penal Code.
“Any person who, with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman, whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing or uses any force of any kind or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for 14 years,” section 158 of the Penal Code says.
Section 159, on the other hand, provides a penalty of up to seven years’ imprisonment for a woman who unlawfully attempts to cause herself to miscarry, while 160 criminalises supplying or procuring drugs, medicines or instruments knowing they are intended to be unlawfully used to cause a miscarriage.
PUSH TO AMEND PENAL CODE
Eric Mundia, policy adviser at Ipas Africa Alliance, says the consequence of the May Court of Appeal ruling includes healthcare providers being hesitant to provide post-abortion care services even where permitted by the law for fear of arrest and prosecution.
“Further, this will make women and girls with pregnancy complications seek services from unqualified professionals, risking their lives and health, thus increasing maternal mortality and morbidity,” he says.
Currently, there is a court ruling requiring the Office of the Attorney General and Parliament to amend the Penal Code and make it consistent with the constitution.
But the Penal Code is not the only setback PAC campaigners are experiencing.
The sudden decision by donors to reduce their overseas development assistance and preferring to work with governments directly has also affected the campaigns.
Mundia says the expected outcome from this move is limited services and more stockouts of essential Sexual Reproductive Health Rights drugs and commodities since most African governments cannot fund their entire health budgets.
Maya’s campaign is not only about making post-abortion care accessible by funding grassroots organisations advocating for it, but also strengthening the rule of law and punishing those responsible for impregnating young girls.
“Saving the life of a young girl who has undergone unsafe abortion should not be the crime,” she says.
“The criminal case should be directed to the defiler and parents forcing these young and vulnerable girls to commercial sex work.”
