11 organizations raise concerns over anti-abortion billboards in Nairobi

A number of billboards around Nairobi bearing anti-abortion messages have raised concerns among members of the civil society.

The billboards spotted around the Westlands Stage, among other areas, are promoting a pro-life message while writing off abortion as murder.

According to the civil society organizations collective, the generic message serves to deny women their unreserved right to quality reproductive health.

A statement from the organizations outlined that the billboards do not "provide the necessary context and public health reality" of what abortion services provide.

Anti-abortion campaigner ece-auto-gen

Abortion is a Health Service

The 11 organizations went on to explain that even though the law is restrictive on circumstances that allow for a pregnancy to be terminated, it is still a medical procedure that is prescribed for women.

"Women and girls may seek abortion services when they have suffered a miscarriage, when they have an ectopic pregnancy, when the fetus cannot survive outside the mother’s womb and when they suffer sexual violence," the statement read in part.

The organizations involved in the petition are Center for Reproductive Rights, Federation of Women Lawyers, Trust for Indigenous Culture and Heath, Network for Adolescent and Youth of Africa, Red Tape, Ipas- Health Access Rights, Right Here Right Now, Kelin, Xhale Africa, Women’s Link Worldwide, and Reproductive Health Network Kenya.