Woman dies while procuring abortion in Nairobi clinic

The proprietor of a clinic in Kayole, Nairobi County has been arrested after a woman died while procuring an abortion.

The woman is alleged to have gone to the Faith Medical Clinic on Tuesday night to terminate her pregnancy.

She was found lying dead on one of the clinic’s benches Wednesday morning.

The woman was identified as Ms Doris Oputinda aged 30 and a mother of four.

LYNCH

Police arrested Zedrick Lisamura Bihenbo, the man running the clinic as angry members of the public threatened to burn the clinic and lynch him.

Kayole OCPD Joseph Gichangi said the police are investigating circumstances under which the woman died, saying that it was still uncertain what time passed away.

“We have the operator of the clinic in custody and we are still interrogating him. We will take him to court once we complete our investigations,” Mr Gichangi said.

The woman’s father, Washington Ngabwa said he was informed of the death by his other daughter.

FIDA

“When I arrived in Kayole, I went to the clinic and found the body of my daughter and many angry people were outside,” Mr Ngabwa said.

He said he went to the police station and reported the incident.

“Police then came and took the body to the City Mortuary,” Mr Ngabwa said.

This incident comes a few months after the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya, FIDA, asked the government to put in place a policy for safe abortion in Kenya, arguing that many young girls were procuring unsafe abortions.

A 2015 report by African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) estimated the number of abortions in Kenya were more than 400,000 a year.

The report indicated that over 120,000 women sought unsafe abortion services.