In my campus, there are a few tacit rules that students live by. We call it the Code. Rules that are made to guide their lives in the grand scheme of relations with people of the opposite sex: always carry a condom in your wallet when going out, ladies should arm themselves with the morning after pills; do not pick up prostitutes, or any girl with a yellow weave. This Code will secure your chances of living past forty, where life supposedly begins. However, the Code finds its way out of the window, and is ruthlessly disregarded.
It all begins with a night out, most of the time; and we all know that alcohol, cheap talk and poor judgment are first cousins in the grandiose family tree of debauchery. What follows next is that the girl finds her drunken self between a mattress and a hard place. A month later, a period goes missing. The next thing a guy knows is his girlfriend sitting him down and beginning with the dreaded line; “Baby, we need to talk.”
This is when reality checks in, followed closely by regret. That is the time the two lovebirds realize that they are 20, unemployed with a kid on the way. The shame that they will go through. The fact that we live in a society that scorns young parents doesn’t make it easier. What will they tell their parents? We treat pregnancy tests like STDs such that when the result is positive, then it is a negative.
The only solution is to get rid of it.
So far, Moi University is exalted with the dubious honour of rampant cases of abortion. Instances of multiple abortions by the same student are no longer worthy of the spotlight. Winnie, a student there, procured her first abortion in first year. She was fearful of her father who is an ex-military jarhead. Her boyfriend jilted her, and she was left with no choice. Earlier this year, she found out that she was heavy with child, and “flushed” it again.
“If you are a girl in Moi University and you haven’t procured an abortion, then you deserve a .drink,” says Patience, a student of law in Annexe Campus. She went ahead to explicate to this writer in detail about how Medicine students help their desperate friends who are caught up in the net of unwanted pregnancies. “These students hook you up with a nurse from Moi Referral who then takes you to see a Doctor who relieves you of your heavy burden.” She says that in some cases, the students are known to pinch abortion pills from the hospital and sell them for Ksh.2,000.
“This is relatively pocket-friendly than a visit to the Doctor who asks for Ksh.5,000.”
The price is not standard though; it ranges depending on the pills and the age of the foetus. There are pills that are ingested, and some that are inserted vaginally.
“If you are a girl in Moi University and you haven’t procured an abortion, then you deserve a .drink,” – Patience, Moi University
These services come as a relief to the many students in the university. Abortion is cheap there. All you need to do is to know someone in the faculty of medicine and your troubles are sorted. Furthermore, when dealing with a student, one can be availed with flexible modes of payments e.g. cash or instalments that are paid periodically over time.
The situation at Moi University is made worse than it seems. There are whispers about chamas that are founded specifically for such emergencies. These chamas provide a financial cushion to their members. They loan out money to those who get pregnant, who then pay back with little interest. Gravidity has now evolved into a booming business with a simulation of insurance cover.
Strathmore University is renowned for its piety and disciplined students; but when it comes to cases of unwanted pregnancies, it too raises its reverent head. Nyabuto, a fresh graduate from its School of Business lifts the veil by way of example. A few mistakes ago, after realizing that her runaway boyfriend had put her in the family way during her second year, she immediately made up her mind to terminate the pregnancy. A friend introduced her to a woman at Afya Centre, who in turn forwarded her to a Doctor who operates a ramshackle health centre in the heart of Kiambu. She parted with a whooping Ksh. 8,000 but the trauma still haunts her dreams to date.
In the University of Nairobi, it’s just the same script with different casts.
Earlier this year, the UoN School of Law (my campus) reopened gates after a brief hiatus only to find a foetus decomposing in one of the ladies’ loos. The gore, but sad, image of a baby whose life had been cut short by its mother suddenly found its way into the social media tabloids- and as expected- caused irate ripples throughout the campus. Most of the people who were pissed off by the image being circulated online were the ladies, and after three days of so, the guy who posted it online was finally cajoled to pull it down, albeit with reservations.
Joy, a third year student of medicine at the institution says that abortion is taught in the final year of the medical discipline. This is necessary for those who are interested to take up gynaecology as a career. However, there are no incidences of the students trying out such procedures on fellow students. But that does not mean that they take the Hippocratic Oath any more seriously than their counterparts from Eldoret. She says that there is a dealer who owns a chemist in town who has mastered the art of abortion. He summons all those girls who are tired and heavy laden and gives them rest. He issues the abortion pill, Misoprostol.
Misoprostol (otherwise known as Cytotec, Arthrotec or Oxaprost) has become a darling for girls in this University. Winnie, a fellow comrade in the school, says that there is a guy going by the street name and fashion of Kevo, who owns a chemist at Anniversary Towers (just opposite UoN Main Campus) who is always willing to make it readily available for only Ksh.3,000.
Cytotec, works for pregnancies that have not lasted a day past 12 weeks. This medication was not originally intended for the massacre of unborn children. It is meant to cure peptic ulcers, but when taken in high dosages, it induces labour and causes the contraction of the uterus walls resulting to the murder of the foetus. This is the same pill used in Moi University.
Abortion might be cheap today, but its consequences are expensive. The side effects of ingesting Misoprostol are sometimes not what the girls bargained for. They end up losing more than they budgeted for.
First of all, the pill does not offer a 100% guarantee of losing the baby. In some cases it backfires, and after nine months, the couple is ‘cursed’ with a bundle of unwelcome joy. But not all of them get so lucky. For others, it leads to immeasurable pain, incessant diarrhoea, development of fibroids, infertility or uncontrollable haemorrhage resulting to severe anaemia, or in the worst case scenario, death. For this last reason, where symptoms such as excessive bleeding and excruciating pain persist, a patient is advised to report to the nearest hospital and say that they have miscarried. The doctors will not suspect a thing.
But that’s just with the medical repercussions. If nabbed, a person convicted for participating in abortion faces up to life imprisonment. This is pursuant to Article 26 of the constitution which holds out that life begins at conception.
There are several other examples of students in different colleges across the nation engaging in this bane that continually insult the very principles this country was founded on. The problem is that this trend is bound to continue, and so will the statistics of young girls putting their lives on the line in some backstreet clinic. The varsities’ administrations do not seem to care about the welfare of the students they teach. Awareness has been abandoned in the domain of matatu bumper stickers and a few concerned NGOs.
Well, this is the ugly truth about place of abortion in our campuses today. It has been denied the attention it rightfully deserves. We students go through a rigorous system in which they we are taught how to talk speak and feel, but all these things do not teach us anything about the first rule of nature which is self-preservation. Students need to be taught that abstinence is not just a biblical philosophy. That having a love is more important than having a lover. That even when accidents happen, taking up responsibility is the first step at making things right. That being a young parent may be difficult, complicated and literally full of crap. It may be double the trouble, and at times money is a maybe.
The beauty of birth may leave its own scars, but nothing comes close to having a baby.
PS: the names of persons herein used are fictitious for security purposes…you understand, right?
41 Comments
Well, that is part of life.
Abortion should be legal. And clinical/surgical abortion is better than medical/pill abortion.
But then again, better be safe than sorry, Weka condom mpangoni :p
Correction dear, abortion is not part of life, its the end of it..
Kendy,
Abortion is not, cannot and will never be a way of life. Even if it’s made legal, or not, remember what St. Paul said ”All things are permissible to me, but not all things are beneficial.
Well, that is part of life.
Abortion should be legal. And clinical/surgical abortion is better than medical/pill abortion.
But then again, better be safe than sorry, Weka condom mpangoni :p
Sadly it has become a norm and gradually accepted in society without consideration
nice article.
I agree that abortion is bad but there are other reasons why people do it. Its not as simple as u are making it sound. Great writing though. Very catch phrases. I liked that..” a few mistakes ago..” Im sure I will borrow it sometime.
Magunga, Stop being too critical, abortion is a necessary evil nowadays, we all know that.
I agree with Kendi
There is no such thing as a necessary evil.
eye opening coming on the footing of a weekend i had to rewatch shuga 2. few misplaced priorities today that leave lifelong scars among our sister….i liked this line most….That having a love is more important than having a lover……great piece of art goon
I agree with Kendi
There is no such thing as a necessary evil.
its really bad in strathmore.. you’d be so shocked
what about Strathmore??
I agree with Kendi. This should be published on a serious platform, great piece.
Ladies, let’s be dignified. If you know you can’t take care of a baby, don’t conceive in the first place. ION, Great read you guy.
First, The site looks good. Second sex is abused to a large extent by young people in universities who don’t even have a clue why they should be doing it in the first place. I think abortion rates are destined to soar even higher unless guyz got a grip! I wonder what happens after the abortion act….do the couples continue seeing eye to eye? do men move on to the next shiny thing? exactly how do people reconcile within themselves what they do? You need to complete this exposition by researching on these untold narratives and like someone said publish it (in a broader coverage) kinda platform. This is serious already. You are destined for greatness my brother. keep writing
I like this vivid account.well done
My heart goes out to the ladies…I wish they knew what they are getting themselves into!
great read Mr. keep the truth rolling
It’s so sad. Some pay for it all their lives; through regrets, nightmares and ‘what ifs’. Sex!!!
Nice article man
I think what they mean is that you need more airtime. In which case I would agree. Otherwise, echo the sentiments…great piece
Here goes. This generation is no different from generations past. Rampant is what I would call our fathers’ generation. Only, then, women had less ‘imported airs’ they walked on, that is, they thought they had less right to be and do as they pleased. So when a few men told them that they could, they did.
Fast forward to today, and you’ll hardly find too many urban single women with more than three children, on the up end. Back in the day, our fathers went ye forth from colonial shackles into the loins of labour and multiflexed their penile muscles, multiplied.
It’s just as it was then, now, only women now have feminists. Who tell them that abortion is A-OK. Because you made a little boo boo, boo-boo, so you can snip it and move on. After all, men snip their foreskins and live, and women wanna be so like men, aye?
There are as many aborted pregnancies today as there were kids sputtered around into the birthplaces of our slum dwellings back in the day. So take a chill pill, seems to be the message: slums will not grow, physically, because we have allowed them to grow, mentally, and be augmented by technology.
Thus spake plausible deniability, the new Mike Speaker of social responsibility et al.
Did someone call abortion necessary evil? The context in which it is being talked here is as a result of irresponsible sexual behaviour and there is no time on earth that two wrongs will ever make a right. And in fact, majority of those who say they do not have a problem with it are the ones who are least likely to practise it. You go ask the ladies who aborted, as to whether they were proud of what they did. Majority will tell you the truth inside their heart. I am not a woman, so clearly I don’t know how it feels like, but if I fathered a child by any of those ladies here who feel abortion is ‘necessary evil’ and I denied the pregnancy, they would hate me for a very long time. Why? Because I didn’t stand up to my responsibilities. And I would be wrong to do that. Same way it is wrong to kill an unborn child as a route to escape your imprudence and the consequences of your lust. Am not judging anyone. I do very many wrong things. But you don’t condone evil just because you want to be blameless. Life doesn’t work like that. 20 years from now, am not sure someone will have the same opinion about abortion.
Seems like with the trend in the world has become to permit every wrong thing that people are doing because…It’s happening anyway-Right?Next thing we know beastiality will be permissible- as well as all the other strange, twisted things that are happening around the world.Sure, there are many reasons why people abort, some purely medical, but don’t go around having unprotected sex then aborting sometimes even severally…Weka condom mpangoni. Or better still, chill.I don’t know what the problem is, but i’m pretty sure it’s not ignorance.
Lovely article.
well put…most ladies who have aborted will always be haunted and whenever they see a baby or hear a baby’s cry;they will always feel disturbed..good thing that abaortion is illegal..you can imagine that baby crying out “please dont kill me mumie am innocent”Ladies should rather carry that shame of being a young mum that to kill an innocent baby..
Where is the wisdom here ? A generation led by instincts, is surely a dying generation. And when the same men discover that babies will come out of these girls, that they are not ready for, then they now move, steadily and surely, to the chicken, goats, donkeys, and more is to come.
It requires true leadership to guide the people of Kenya, especially the youth, and all of us. This is a national disaster in the making. Can we afford, therefore, to keep quiet ?
Whatever our feelings on abortion drive us to, it remains to be a very big vice in our society. But we need to arrest all the root causes that bring about unwanted / unplanned pregnancies than just placing abortion in classification chart. Let educate all genders on this topic for us all to be better placed in handling the whole issue.y
I first must say that your writing is captivating 🙂 I hate that women are made to look bad with this abortion thing. Reading your article it almost feels like they got pregnant on their own. Girls need to be taught to be selfish. It is really sad.
Perfect article. Keep it up.
Abortion is a crime, and the effects later on are bad, imagine if your mum aborted you. Girls better think about your future as you do what you do.
Abortion is murder.
Better have the baby
That is an excuse that we all tell ourselves so that we feel better about our evil acts. There is nothing like necessary evil
nice post,keep writing till the earth goes zebra stripped with ink.bravo
sometimes girls have no choice
Mary Mercy will never do abortion!
Abortion is a crime, and the effects later on are bad, imagine if your mum aborted you. Girls better think about your future as you do what you do.
Abortion is a crime, and the effects later on are bad, imagine if your mum aborted you. Girls better think about your future as you do what you do.