Poverty drove “Bahara” to have a dangerous abortion in her fourth month at her home in Afghanistan, where abortion is prohibited and punishable by law with imprisonment.
“Bahara” went to a Kabul hospital, begging for help to terminate her pregnancy with a girl her husband did not want. But the doctor told her: “We do not have the right to do that. If anyone finds out, we will go to prison.”
Desperate, the mother of four daughters resorted to this option after her unemployed husband forced her to “find a solution” because he did not want a fifth daughter.
“We can barely feed them. If it were a boy, he could go to school and work,” says the 35-year-old woman, unlike girls who have been banned from attending middle and high schools, universities, and most jobs since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
“Bahara” listened to her neighbor’s advice and bought from the market a herbal tea made from a type of marshmallow that causes contractions, for 150 Afghanis (less than two dollars).
But the bleeding she suffered was severe, forcing her to return to the hospital.
“I told them I fell to the ground, but they realized I was lying, as there were no marks on my body. They were angry, but they did not report me,” she adds in a faint voice. “They performed surgery to remove the remnants of the fetus. Since then, I have felt very weak.”
An abortive plant
According to botanist Guadalupe Maldonado Andrade of Cal Poly Pomona, “Bahara” used an abortive plant that may carry “risks” if the dose is inappropriate, as it damages organs and causes severe bleeding.
“Bahara’s” case is not isolated. Elsewhere, “Nisa” swallowed a drug known to poison the fetus, while “Maryam’s” mother crushed her abdomen with a heavy stone.
It took months of discussions and promises to keep the women’s identities confidential for them to agree to testify, especially in light of fears of defamation and arrest.
Of the approximately ten women contacted by Agence France-Presse, only five agreed to speak about clandestine abortions in Afghanistan, reflecting the difficulties women currently face in the country. For security reasons, their names have been changed.
Suspension of family planning services
The spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Health, Sharafat Zaman, confirms that “a small number” of women are forced to have abortions.
In light of the prohibitions and the absence of official data, it is difficult to estimate the number of women who abort at home.
Taliban authorities regularly check that abortions are not being performed in hospitals, which terrifies doctors and drives women to have abortions clandestinely, according to about ten people working in the health sector who spoke to AFP.
Several doctors, who requested anonymity, reported that they had noticed an increase in the number of abortion cases they were receiving, which may be due to deliberate attempts.
Two international organizations working in the medical field also reported the matter, especially since access to contraception has become more difficult.
“Physical restrictions on health services and the forced closure of family planning services are hampering access to modern contraception,” a UN source told AFP, adding that less than half of Afghans currently have access to so-called modern contraception (condoms, pills, etc.).
In addition, since 2024, girls have been banned from enrolling in midwifery or nursing in medical colleges, even though the country has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world.
Despite “Zaman” acknowledging the “problems” faced by some and expressing concern about the unsanitary conditions in which clandestine abortions are performed, he insists that the government is not responsible because it authorizes the termination of some pregnancies.
Abortion is permitted in cases of extreme danger to the pregnant woman, but it remains rare in practice. “Zaman” points out that the Taliban considers abortion to be “killing a life.”
“Another girl”
“In the past, we were freer to perform abortions. There were non-governmental organizations supporting us, there was no government control,” says a gynecologist in Kabul.
“Today, doctors are afraid because prescriptions are being reviewed in pharmacies, and this is very dangerous… So, more women are trying to abort at home,” she adds.
“They are afraid to go to the hospital, but they can go to it by pretending it was an unintentional abortion,” she continues.
According to this 58-year-old doctor, some pharmacies risk selling misoprostol, which causes abortion, without a prescription.
While some healthcare workers sometimes help women who want to have abortions, others do not hesitate to demand exorbitant sums in one of the poorest countries in the world in exchange for performing a medical procedure that could alleviate their suffering without endangering them.
“Nisa,” a 35-year-old farmer, had this experience.
“In the fourth month of my pregnancy, I found out I was pregnant with another girl… I knew that if my husband found out, he would kick me out. He thinks having boys is better,” says the mother of eight daughters and one son.
“I begged a clinic to help me. They asked me for 10,000 Afghanis ($120), which I don’t have. I went to the pharmacy without a prescription, and they gave me a drug against malaria and said it would help me,” she adds.
In Kabul pharmacies, chloroquine and primaquine are used to combat malaria, but the French Agency for the Safety of Medicines prohibits them in the case of pregnancy, considering that they may be toxic to the fetus.
“I started bleeding and lost consciousness. I was taken to the hospital and begged the doctors not to report me… and they surgically removed the remnants of the fetus,” says “Nisa.”
According to the non-governmental organization “Center for Reproductive Rights,” only 34 percent of women of reproductive age live in countries (77 countries) where abortion is permitted on request. Unsafe abortions cause 39,000 deaths annually worldwide.
In Kabul, a licensed midwife expresses her feeling of “helplessness and weakness for not being able to provide more help.”
In the Nangarhar region in the east of the country, a female gynecologist expresses her despair. “I feel sorry for these women. When I became a doctor, I promised myself that I would help them. But we cannot do that,” she says.
