US Supreme Court leak stirs abortion passions in Africa

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When a desperate and bleeding 17-year-old girl walked into his rural health centre, Kenyan medic Ismail Mohammed Salim thought he was doing the right thing by helping her conclude an unwanted and dangerous pregnancy. Days later, both were in jail.

"I gave an evacuation service to save a patient's life as the government trained me to do. Then I'm prosecuted," said Salim, who was accused of performing an illegal abortion and detained in Kilifi town, where he had to sleep 20-to-a-cell."I was in despair."

After a week in custody and a two-year legal process, the clinical officer and girl were vindicated in March by the High Court, which reaffirmed Kenya's constitutional provision for abortion services in emergency or life-threatening situations. Such cases have given cheer in recent years to abortion rights activists around Africa, where cultural and religious traditions clash with the reality of widespread underage and unwanted pregnancies, sometimes by rape or incest.

Now, however, those activists are looking nervously to the United States, where a leaked Supreme Court ruling would, if confirmed, overturn the landmark Roe v Wade decision that legalised abortion there."It is a major threat to abortion rights globally," said Evelyne Opondo, senior regional director for Africa of the Center for Reproductive Rights, covering Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia.

 

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The truth is, there are many things to use to not get pregnant but they prefer to rather kill babies

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