Nurse Jackson Namunya Tali was not the first person Christine Atieno approached when she sought help to end an unwanted pregnancy in Kenya.
Tali says that Atieno asked for assistance after undergoing a botched abortion, in a country where the procedure is illegal.
Last week, the high court in Nairobi sentenced 41-year-old Tali to death for murder, after the death of both mother and foetus.
In the ruling, Judge Nicholas Ombija said the nurse, who had been working at Kihara Sub District Hospital and operating a private clinic in Kiambu, had been found guilty of murdering Atieno.
“He has killed two people, a foetus and her mother, and the only sentence available in law is the maximum death penalty, which I have handed to him,” said the judge.
The court heard that Atieno died in Tali’s vehicle as he drove her from a clinic to another hospital for advanced treatment,
the BBC reported.
The ruling has reignited the debate over abortion, which is only legal in Kenya if the pregnancy is deemed by a medical professional to be endangering the mother’s health.
The law had previously stated that abortion could only be performed if a woman’s life was endangered, and whereas three doctors were previously needed to approve the procedure, rules have been relaxed so that only one doctor’s consent is needed.
However, in most communities, abortion is regarded as a taboo and individuals involved in the act can be branded murderers. South Africa, Tunisia and Cape Verde are the only African countries to allow abortion without restriction on the reasons for it.
Source: The Guardian, Joab Apollo, Sept. 30, 2014
