I overcame a chain of abortions.

By: Joan Wangari

Posted on Friday, July 24, 2020

When young girls get pregnant the fear of their parents may push them to abort

Over the past few years the abortion remains a forbidden topic of discussion that stirs up mixed emotions whenever brought up. Each day the number of girls that procure abortion is on the rise. According to switch TV’s Real Talk hosted by Tamima every Monday at 8:30PM, in 2017 alone, 454,000 abortions were procured resulting in over 2,600 deaths. The bulk of the deaths came from back street abortion centers.

In Kenya abortion is quite common among campus girls even though older women also procure abortions. Most of Tamima’s guest confessed to have done abortion in their early 20’s while still in campus.

Wilter Chemtai, now a mother of three had her first abortion in her second year of college. Though she already had two children, she says that she could not afford to have another child out of fears of the repercussions with her mother. She recalled how her mother had chased her away after the birth of her second child who was 6 months old then and living with her aunt.

First Abortion

Wilter recalls the horrific experience she went through; her cervix refused to open. She needed drugs to aid the process. Though the abortion was successful, the aftermath was hell. She bled for two months. It took the intervention of the resident campus doctor who prescribed family planning medicine to treat “prolonged menses”. That she had procured an abortion never came up due to embarrassment on her part

Crisis pregnancies should not put a halt to anyone's dreams

Second Abortion

Chemtai completed her studies and ironically graduated with a first class honors degree despite all the challenges. She landed a job and life was good for a while; that is until she got pregnant again. This time the father of her unborn child was a colleague and they mutually moved in together to start a family. She came into the “marriage” with her second born child. Things changed for the worse and her partner became physically abusive to her and her child. That she had lost her job did not help matters. Wilter decided to terminate the pregnancy together with the relationship. The abortion process this time round was easier but she still bled for more than a month and also lost a lot of blood.

Third Abortion?

Time moved very first and her body recovered. Chemutai found herself pregnant again. The same thoughts of abortion engulfed her mind. After seeking medical advice, she was highly discouraged from procuring another abortion. The was a big risk of her dying from loss of blood.

Feeling desperate and frustrated she sought for counselling from a pastor. She was encouraged to have the baby. Her lovely daughter is now about 10 years old. She says she draws a lot of happiness and joy form her baby girl. Wilter has had to go for counselling to learn how to deal with stress, guilt and anger. She now speaks to young girls about her experiences and hopes that no young girl will ever go through what she did.