Kenyan court considers guidelines for ‘safe abortion’

July 15, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Nairobi, Kenya, Jul 15, 2018 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Kenya’s high court is considering the state of health care in the country, as it hears a case brought on behalf of a young woman who died last month from complications which were related to a back-alley abortion she procured in 2014.

The girl, known by her initials JMM, was raped in 2014 at the age of 15. In December of that year, her guardian “received a call from a relative informing her that the former was vomiting and bleeding heavily at a local clinic where she had gone to seek treatment,” Akello Odenyo reported in The Standard, a Nairobi daily, May 28.

JMM had told clinic staff she had procured an unsafe abortion and that was sent to a variety of hospitals for post-abortive care.

In 2015, JMM’s mother, along with the Federation of Women Lawyers and the Centre for Reproductive Rights, filed a suit against the Ministry of Health claiming JMM was not provided with proper post-abortion care and calling on the government to provide access to safe abortions.

JMM developed kidney failure, and died June 10, 2018.

The 2010 Kenyan constitution made abortion legal in certain circumstances – in the cases of emergencies and when the woman’s health is in jeopardy.

Since then, Kenya’s health ministry “has withdrawn essential guidelines on conducting safe abortions and banned health workers from training on abortion,” according to Reuters.

The guidelines were removed in 2013 “after it emerged they were being used for unintended purposes,” according to the testimony of Dr. Joel Gondi, head of the Reproductive and Maternal Health Service Unit, The Star reported.

“The guidelines, amongst other things, provided clarity on who could perform abortions, safe-guarding against illegal practitioners,” reported Reuters. “The ban on training has meant fewer health professionals available to perform the procedure or after care.”

The suit filed on JMM’s behalf maintains that the poor care she received following her abortion was a result of the lack of safe abortion services. Petitioners seek the reinstatement of the abortion guidelines, and an end to the ban on training health workers on performing abortion.

The Ministry of Health reported in May that the country had spent 533 million Kenyan shillings ($5.29 million) treating complications from back-alley abortions.

Evelyne Opondo of the Centre for Reproductive Rights said that “While JMM was entitled to quality post abortion care irrespective of whether it was within the law or otherwise, she did not receive it from the point of first contact with the health system. Instead there were several delays and missed opportunities to mitigate the adverse effect of the unsafe abortion on her health and life.”

JMM’s mother said that her daughter’s death “was entirely preventable,” and maintained that “Kenya has to make abortion safe and accessible.”

The Kenyan high court heard three-day of testimony this week in the case. It has been adjourned until Sept. 18, and a verdict is expected before the end of the year.

Among the testimonies heard by the court was that of Dr. Wahome Ngari, who said that figures on the number of back-alley abortions procured, which are used to argue for the expansion of abortion rights, are wildly inflated.

Ngari said that a report by a reproductive health firm which had been cited in the court and which estimated 400,000 unsafe abortions in 2002 was inaccurage.

The physician said the correct figure was 140,000, The Standard reported.

Such inflation “was used in Malawi to push the Government to repeal their abortion law,” he told the court.

Ngari said the focus on health care for pregnant women in Kenya should begin with blood loss.

“The reason pregnant mothers die in the country is haemorrhage, followed by infections, hyperactive disorders, prolonged or obstructed labour and lastly abortion. Anyone who wants to offer a solution should follow that order.”

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Seminarian in Nigeria burned alive in botched kidnapping 

September 8, 2023 Catholic News Agency 0
Seminarian Na’aman Danlami died when Fulanis attacked St. Raphael Fadan Kamantan Parish on the night of Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. / Photo courtesy of ACN

ACI Africa, Sep 8, 2023 / 13:15 pm (CNA).

A Catholic seminarian in Nigeria was killed after the rectory where he was living was set on fire in what has been confirmed as a kidnapping attempt, according to the Diocese of Kafanchan.

The perpetrators of the crime were reportedly Islamist Fulani militants.

According to Bishop Julius Yakubu Kundi of Kafanchan, seminarian Na’aman Danlami died when Fulanis attacked St. Raphael Fadan Kamantan Parish on Sept. 7 and set the rectory ablaze.

In an interview with the Catholic pontifical and charity foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, Kundi said the parish priest, Father Emmanuel Okolo, and his assistant were able to escape the fire in which the 25-year-old seminarian died.

“The attackers were aiming to kidnap the parish priest. When they failed in their attempt to enter the father’s house, they set it on fire. The two priests were able to escape but the seminarian was burned inside,” ACN quoted the Nigerian Catholic bishop as saying in a report shared with ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa.

Kundi added: “The assault lasted more than an hour, but there was no reaction or support from the military forces. A kilometer away there is a checkpoint, but there was a total absence of reaction.”

A screengrab from a video shared with ACI Africa that shows the parish house at St. Raphael Fadan Kamantan Catholic Church of the Diocese of Kafanchan in flames Sept. 7, 2023. Credit: ACN
A screengrab from a video shared with ACI Africa that shows the parish house at St. Raphael Fadan Kamantan Catholic Church of the Diocese of Kafanchan in flames Sept. 7, 2023. Credit: ACN

“Nigerian citizens are unprotected. We hardly benefit from the security forces,” Kundi said.

Earlier, seminarian Danlami had been said to be missing. A priest who took a video that showed the arson said that they could not establish the whereabouts of the seminarian.

“Father Okolo and I are out of the house. It is brother Na’aman whose whereabouts we don’t know. Whether he’s there in the flames or they have taken him, or he has escaped we don’t know,” the priest said, adding that the parish had fallen under attack at about 8 p.m.

Kundi described Danlami’s death as “a terrible loss,” adding that his killing is not the first in his episcopal see, which serves Kaduna State.

“This seminarian is the second member we have lost in the diocese at the hands of terrorist attacks by Fulani bandits,” the bishop said.

He added that last year, Father John Mark Cheitnum, director of communications of the Diocese of Kafanchan, was kidnapped and brutally murdered.

“We recovered the body of Na’aman Danlami this morning and took it to the morgue,” Kundi told ACN. 

ACN condemned the murder of Danlami and the kidnapping of another seminarian in Kaduna. 

In the note shared with ACI Africa, the pontifical foundation reported on the kidnapping of seminarian Ezequiel Nuhu, taken on Sept. 7 in Kaduna.

Nuhu, ACN reported, was taken along with his father. “Nuhu is a seminarian in Abuja but had gone to southern Kaduna to spend a holiday with his family,” the charity foundation reported. 

“ACN International denounces the latest attack on the Catholic Church in Nigeria, in which a seminarian was burned to death in the Diocese of Kafanchan, as well as the kidnapping of another seminarian in southern Kaduna,” ACN said.

The Catholic charity appealed “for prayers for the repose of Na’aman Danlami and for consolation for his family and his community. It also prays for the safety and quick release of Ezekiel Nuhu.”

ACN further reported that Nigeria has been a particularly dangerous country for Catholic clergy in recent years. 

In 2022 four Catholic priests were killed in the West African country and 28 were kidnapped, the charity foundation reported, adding that in 2023, the number of members of the clergy who have been victims of kidnapping has already reached 14.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

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