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'In African traditions, children who resulted from incestuous relations were killed'
Sunday Nation's STEPHEN MBURU interviewed DR KATINI NZAU-OMBAKA
on the contentious issue of abortion.
Sunday Nation: What emotions hit you on hearing about the dumping of aborted foetuses?
Dr Katini Nzau-Ombaka: First and foremost, we still have not established whether the foetuses were as a result of abortion or victims of lack of proper disposal. They could have been a result of normal deliveries but ended up in stillbirth or premature deliveries. What struck me most was the outpouring of emotions and immediate conclusion that the foetuses were a result of abortion. It was very 'fishy' that the foetuses were disposed off with the documents that were very specific to patients and to a particular doctor. I find it very difficult to believe that, under normal circumstances, foetuses would be disposed off with their documents. I have a lot of suspicion that those could have been the work of those opposed to the whole idea of abortion being legalised and wanted to drive their point home.
This is a very emotive issue. I would like to see as much compassion and interest in the increasing number of abandoned and unwanted babies that are alive. We don't have the luxury of burying foetuses in nice expensive coffins and flowers when we cannot feed the poor children among us.
Let us stop being hypocritical. We have a problem of caring for citizens that are already alive and who have constitutional rights. A foetus has no constitutional right. Let's put our energy there until we reach a stage in life when protection of unborn foetuses becomes a priority. In African cultures and tradition, there was a way of dealing with babies born of incest or as a result of unwanted pregnancies. They were even killed.
What was more shocking, the disposal or the fact that abortions are taking place on such a scale?
I wasn't shocked at all. I have seen it all. I have seen women suffer and die because of unwanted pregnancies. We, health practitioners, and the government know that unsafe abortion has reached the magnitude of a public health problem. In Kenya, abortion contributes to about 40 per cent of maternal mortality. Outlawing abortion will only make the issue go underground and the situation will get worse.
In Italy, which is right under the nose of the Pope (the head of the Catholic Church), women there have access to contraceptives and abortion. In other words, they have the right to control their reproductive affairs. It's hypocritical for religious leaders to claim to protect the life of the unborn yet support the death penalty. should remain.
Are your views on abortion formed more by religious-moral grounds or practical medical grounds?
On medical, social justice and human and woman's rights. During my post training at Kenyatta National Hospital, at one time I had a list of 75 cases of patients who needed urgent evacuation (cleaning) of the uterus after they had interfered with their pregnancies. I managed to get 25 cases done but after a lot of obstacles. Some end up being in the Intensive Care Unit and die from complications while others died while waiting for the procedure. to be done.
Abortion is legal in Kenya only to save the life of mother. Would you like to see any changes in the law?
The role of women today is not just to reproduce. The law should give room to women to enable them participate as equal partners in development. To enable them to do that, they must be able to control, their fertility. You Improve the status of women and the economic status of the country will follow.
To what extent do you think doctors who undertake abortions are motivated primarily by money?
There is a misconception that legalising abortion will benefit doctors. Doctors make money because abortion is illegal. Legalise abortion and women will have access to government hospitals and will not need to go to private doctors.
It is not in doctors' interests to legalise abortion. Historically, it's doctors who had supported restricting abortion. A few doctors make money because they are the only ones offering a service that is in high demand and yet illegal. They also have the guts to do it either on the conviction that their responsibility is to the woman, and not for their (doctors') survival.
Have you ever performed abortions, how frequently?
At Kenyatta, I had the opportunity to terminate pregnancies which had been approved after going through various regulatory measures. I had a case I will never forget. An old, widowed man from Kiambu came to hospital. He was hysterical. told us: "I am not taking my daughter from this hospital until the pregnancy is terminated and her tubes tied up". His daughter, who was epileptic and mentally- retarded had five children the old man was taking care of. The most horrific experience is that even after the decision was made to terminate her pregnancy, religious leaders and medical providers, used tactics to prevent the procedure taking place. The pregnancy was beyond now 12 weeks old, and into a dangerous stage for termination. Nobody has a right to impose his or her religious moral grounds on another.
Under what circumstance do you, or would you, perform an abortion?
The law under the Penal Code says it should be done to save the life of the mother. The law has a leeway for the medical professionals to make the final decision. But many doctors have not used this leeway to protect the interests of women. They have not asserted their power to make professional judgment on the women who deserve to have their pregnancies terminated.
To what extent do you think the right to abort or not is solely the decision of the individual carrying the baby?
Every case is unique. The scenario for every single woman is different. Termination could be made on health or social grounds.
No woman on this planet, in her right senses, goes looking for pregnancy so she can abort. And by the time she arrives at the decision to abort, irrespective of the law and what the society will say, she will go ahead and do it. There is no turning back.
A colleague of mine who was anti-abortion changed her mind after a 14-year old daughter of her friend went to her seeking an abortion. She turned the girl away. The same night the doctor was called to the hospital to only to find it was the same girl she had turned away earlier. She had tried to abort using a hanger. She girl died on the operating table.
The Kenya Medical Association put forward pro-abortion proposals to the constitution review. One argument was that denying women access to safe abortions amounts to refusal to provide healthcare that only women need. Is it a gender issue?
Abortion is a gender issue. Many champions of the so-called pro-life "movement" are men . If they had an opportunity to get pregnant and an opportunity to be confronted with the dilemma of abortion, their stand might be different. If it were men dying because of abortion, the law could have been changed long time ago. Women, who are opposed to abortion do so because their minds are controlled by men. Who flock to churches to listen to that (anti-abortion) propaganda? Are they not women.
Did the general outrage over the recent incident serve as a setback for the pro-life lobby?
The pro-life "movement" now wants to use the incident to hammer their point home and call for strict law on abortion. The incident could not have happened at a better time. From the medical and health perspective, behind the emotions there should have been an outcry about the whole issue of disposal of waste.
One of the foetuses recovered on Mombasa Road was nearly full-term. Would you class that as abortion or murder?
It was not an abortion. It could have been a still-born. Even at KNH's sluice room, where afterbirth products are thrown, you will not fail to find pre-term babies. No way a 3.1 kg baby can be an abortion.
What strong message would you send to pro-lifers?
I am pro-life and pro-choice. I believe that the woman has a right to choose and the right to live. There is a lot of hypocrisy in the society. If we really care about life, we must be consistent about protecting it. It is nonsense to argue that if we legalise abortion girls would be terminating pregnancies 'left , right and centre.' By decriminalising abortion, we will bring down the unacceptable maternal mortality in the country. | 
