Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported that the number of “induced abortions” has increased in Afghanistan following the return of the caretaker government to power.
In its report, AFP said it spoke with ten women in Afghanistan about abortion, but only five agreed to share their stories. The number of Afghan women resorting to dangerous home methods to terminate unwanted pregnancies—a practice that puts their lives at risk—is rising.
Bahara (a pseudonym), a 35-year-old woman, told AFP: “When I was four months pregnant, I went to a hospital in Kabul to have an abortion, but the doctors told me they were not allowed to do it, and if anyone found out, they would be imprisoned.”
She added that on the order of her “unemployed husband, who did not want a fifth daughter,” she used “a type of herbal tea” to terminate her pregnancy.
She explained: “The bleeding became so severe that I was forced to go back to the hospital. I told the doctors that I had fallen, but they knew I was lying because there were no marks on my body. They became angry but did not report me to the authorities. They performed a procedure and removed the remaining tissue from my body.”
It is worth noting that under Afghanistan’s constitution, abortion is illegal and is only permitted if the mother’s life is in serious danger. However, in practice, women are almost never granted permission for such procedures.
Two international organizations working in Afghanistan’s health sector have also confirmed the rise in abortions in the country.
Because abortion is a taboo in Afghanistan, it is often carried out using herbal medicines or pills that are sold illegally in pharmacies. In some cases, women are forced to lift heavy objects or their abdomen in order to terminate the pregnancy.
Halima (a pseudonym) said she terminated her pregnancy by taking pills she had purchased from a pharmacy. Maryam (a pseudonym) also said she aborted her pregnancy by striking her stomach “with a stone.”
A gynecology and obstetrics specialist in Kabul told AFP that before the return of the current government to power, they were able to perform more abortions with the help of some NGOs, but now doctors are afraid to carry out the procedure.
He added that women are afraid to request abortions at hospitals: “Most women try to abort [their pregnancy] at home and then come to the hospital saying that they had a miscarriage.”
Maryam (a pseudonym), 22, said that one month after becoming pregnant, her mother placed “a very heavy stone on her stomach” to terminate the pregnancy.
This comes as Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal and neonatal mortality rates in the world.
