(WOMENSENEWS)–Two months after Nov. 9, 2014, my younger sister realized she messed up. She was 14 and her menstruation didn’t come. Even before confirming it with a doctor she called her 28-year-old boyfriend and told him she was pregnant. He suggested an abortion but Linnet did not want to do that. Later he agreed to take care of her and the unborn child though he had another family elsewhere. Linnet knew she would need money for doctors and extra food so she devised a plan to solicit money from her boyfriend. She called him and told him that she would get rid of the pregnancy. He was surprised by her sudden change of mind, but pleased. He promised to send her money for the operation. Linnet’s plan was to stay away from her boyfriend until after the baby was born and then show up on his door with their infant. She figured he couldn’t turn them away.
Linnet’s boyfriend never sent the money. So she lied to our grandmother to get money to pay for the hospital tests. Sure enough, the result was positive. She was pregnant. She asked the doctor for medicine so she could abort the fetus. Though abortion is only legal when the female’s health is at risk in Kenya, the doctor wrote her a prescription and told her the pills cost 3,000 shillings (about $30). She didn’t have the money but was optimistic that her boyfriend would send the money. She went home without the drugs.
That evening she called her boyfriend to ask for the money. He told her he had already made arrangements with another doctor so there was no need for him to send her money. The next day our aunt, who at the time was in her last year of high school, asked her why she had gone to the hospital. She lied and said she had been having a severe stomachache. Our aunt did not believe her. and later convinced Linnet to tell her the truth. She offered to loan Linnet the money from her savings for the medicine.
The following day, Monday, Linnet went back to the hospital at 2 p.m. Not many people were around at that time and she was looking forward to getting the whole thing over with. Instead, the doctor raped her in the consultation room. Afterwards, he gave her the pills she needed for the abortion. The next day she was in a lot of pain. She could not sleep she hurt so much. The pills worked, though, and she was no longer pregnant. She said it was the worst moment of her life. She bled for a week and was in constant pain for 10 days. She was living with our grandmother at the time and Linnet was able to keep her situation a secret and our grandmother was unsuspecting of what her sweet grandchild was really going through.
After the pain went away she ended the relationship with her boyfriend and decided to focus on her life. She is doing well in high school and hopes for a bright future. Though she regrets the early and immature relationship, she still goes on. This is a lesson we have both learned from her mistakes. I am proud that she lets me share her stories so others can learn from her.
