Girls in the Coast region using 'dangerous' drugs to end pregnancies

MOMBASA: Illegal tourism activities typified by underage girls engaging in sex as well as heavy partying may be taking a toll on women and girls in the Coast region.

Investigations by The Standard revealed that chemical abortion involving ingestion of drugs that interfere with levels of progesterone, a hormone that keeps the foetus implanted on the wall of the uterus, is a favourite for women seeking to procure abortion.

In one case, a student from a medical college detailed how her colleague had used a combination of drugs, including those used for treating cancer and those used for treating ulcers, to “flush”.

“She used the methotraxate (cancer drug) and Misoprostal (ulcer drug) to abort the three-week-old pregnancy. She never experienced any complications,” said the girl who requested to be referred as Stacy.

Stacy says some abortionists are a fraud, giving an example of her friend who was duped by a herbalist in Mwembe Tayari who gave her a concoction that looked like tea leaves which never induced the abortion.

She says persons who procure abortion operate in clinics and in their homes.

Stacy said her friend discovered the combination drugs from an internet site.

She says most chemists have no qualms selling the drugs to girls on an abortion mission because they are assured to rake in huge profits.

A chemist in Majengo area said the use of such combination drugs to procure an abortion was on the increase.

“The cancer drugs cause cells in the placenta to die while the ulcer drug is used to empty the uterus by causing the uterus to contract and push the foetus out. But most of the girls choose to get the drugs through proxies,” said the Jacob Mwawasi.

He admitted that girls out to commit an abortion are ready to pay up to five times the ordinary price of the drugs.

But the morning-after pills, administered up to 72 hours after intercourse to prevent the embryo from implanting on the uterine wall, could be the most common channel for those out to stop a pregnancy.

Chemists in the Mombasa Central Business District and Mtwapa and Diani in Kwale who spoke to The Standard on condition of anonymity disclosed an increased demand for Postinor 2, commonly known as P2 pills.

Chemists near institutions of higher learning recorded the highest sales of the birth control pills.

While private practitioners record roaring business in procuring abortions, doctors in hospitals in Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale have to deal with numerous complications procedures conducted in backstreet clinics.

Coast General Hospital Deputy Chief Administrator Victor Njom said infection, severe bleeding and perforation of the uterus were the common complications of those who seek unsafe abortions.

“Mostly, infections arise from use of unsterilised equipment,” said Dr Njom.

He said when doctors are confronted by cases of complications, their goal shifts to saving the life of the woman.

“A good number of the incidents are those that were procured by quacks and health officers have to complete the process to save the women,” he said.

He said the bulk of the cases were from Mombasa but the hospital, being the largest referral facility, received cases from other counties.

Although Njom did not have current statistics of cases and age groups of those who visit the hospital for post-abortion care, he was quoted in a local publication in March this year saying the hospital receives at least 100 cases in four months.

 A doctor from the Mariakani District Hospital, Dr David Mang’ong’i, said while the law does not permit doctors to procure abortion, the hospital had received cases of miscarriage and incomplete abortion conducted by quacks.

Dr Mang’ong’i says a doctor attending to such a case has no option other than completing the abortion.