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| Why abortion cannot be wished away |
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| Written by Arthur Okwemba | |
             The Kenyan government once again is struggling with the abortion issue as the country prepares to host on June 23-25, the Africa Regional meeting to mark the 10th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The country's preparatory report on progress to date since the Cairo conference will probably remain mute on abortion, and once again, the reality of what is happening on the ground will be hidden. A major failure of Kenya's population policies in the past 10 years have been their inability to reach the most vulnerable groups, who are in need of good reproductive health care and information. Young women and men appear to be completely out of the country's population policy and reproductive health services loop. One answer that is put forth to encourage young women who find themselves pregnant not to abort is to consider the option of adoption. One doctor confirmed, "Those who agree to carry the pregnancy to term do so on the assurance that their babies will be adopted at the time of birth, and the burden of raising the child is taken up by someone else." But this is not the key to the testy abortion issue and it will not make illegal abortions go away. Another option offered is to provide young teenage mothers with the means to take care of themselves and their infants as a way to stem illegal abortion. In Britain, for example, young teenage mothers are given a monthly stipend and a municipal house. It is clear that the ailing Kenyan economy could not support such an initiative. What is needed is more proactive reproductive health care services and information for youth, which reach throughout the country. There are still gaps in information of the use of contraceptives for youth, and often it is found that young people seek out information from their peers, which leads them to make risky and uninformed choices. Recently the Kenyan press sensationalized, even using pictures, the death of 15 fetuses apparently due to illegal abortions. The public shrieked and public condemnation of abortion was rife. But this response will not discourage the young women, who saw no other choice open to them, from repeating the act again. |
| In the Shadow of Death |
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The book, In the Shadow of Death: My trauma, my experience is public testimony on what the majority women went though during the post-election violence that engulfed Kenya immediately after the Electoral Commission of Kenya announced the results for the hotly-contested presidential polls of the December 2007 General Election. The crisis brought to the fore a number of factors that separate our society but for long have been ignored by successive post-independence governments: poverty, land, inequality, tribalism, among others. |
| 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence |
 This year's theme for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence is 'Human Rights for Women, Human Rights for All' |
| Kenya Audio Visual Archives Conference |
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The African Woman and Child Feature Service, the Kenya Archival Study Group and the Ford Foundation office in Nairobi, Kenya will hold the Preservation, Conservation and Restoration of Audio Visual Media Conference. The conference will be held at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi, from December 3rd – 5th 2008. |
