Abortion in Kenya exists in a legal grey area: the 2010 constitution legalised it in limited circumstances, such as rape, but the older penal code continues to criminalise it outright.

This ambiguity pushes thousands of women into unsafe backstreet clinics each year. It’s a hidden crisis that has claimed the lives of over 2,000 people annually, while many more end up facing life-altering complications.

In this openDemocracy/BBC joint investigation, Linda Ngari explores how abortion is shrouded in stigma and misinformation, with desperate women turning to dangerous methods, and asks: who is responsible for this public health crisis and what can be done to save these lives?

Interviewing Kenyan women, doctors, campaigners and religious groups, Ngari breaks the taboo around abortion – and shows how controversial ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ have been allowed to flourish.

In one example, she exposes the charity Youth for Christ Kenya as talking vulnerable pregnant teens out of having abortions – even terminations on the grounds of rape, which would be legal under Kenyan law – through methods that include the spread of misinformation.

Despite being promised material support by the organisation in exchange for keeping their pregnancies, young mothers reported being dropped by the ministry once they had delivered their babies.

“It was through rape. I didn’t plan for it,” said one woman who said she was encouraged to have her baby by Youth for Christ Kenya. “I had so many plans for my life – I wanted to go to nursing school and finally be a doctor and be someone successful in life.” Instead, she is now struggling with little support as she raises a young baby.

Youth for Christ Kenya said it provided young mothers with scientific facts about abortion. It did not respond to allegations that it had failed to give promised material support to young mothers after leaving the centre.

Watch the full 45-minute documentary here.

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