Contemporary Issues, 3rd prize
Poor Choices
Sarah Elliott
21 June, 2010
Each year, at least 2,600 Kenyan women die after illegal abortions and 21,000 are hospitalized with complications from unsafe procedures.
Sarah Elliott
Sarah Elliott was born in the USA in 1984 and received a degree in photography in New York City at Parsons School of Design. Elliott assisted Stanley Greene for a year before mov...
Ongata Rongai, Kenya A doctor uses MVA (manual vacuum aspiration) to perform an abortion on a 29-year-old single mother. He begins the procedure by administering an anesthetic to the cervix. Abortion is a crime in Kenya, unless the life of the mother is in danger. Penalties run up to seven years in prison for a woman trying to procure a termination and twice as long for anyone conducting one. Women from richer classes can afford the € 60-80 it costs to have an abortion secretly performed by a compliant professional in a proper clinic. Poorer women have to rely on backstreet establishments, where untrained practitioners terminate pregnancies using knitting needles, bleach, malaria pills and other non-medical methods. Each year, at least 2,600 Kenyan women die after illegal abortions and 21,000 are hospitalized with complications from unsafe procedures.
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