A famous Kenyan proverb states that the pot is more important than the water it carries. That’s the same concept behind therapeutic termination of pregnancy. If the mother’s life’s in danger, it’s better to abort the pregnancy than lose the mother. However, the procedure is done before the fetus is mature enough to survive on its own outside the womb.
Conditions that necessitate therapeutic abortion
Although the Kenyan constitution has legalized therapeutic termination of pregnancy, you can’t just walk into a clinic and ask for it. You must be suffering from any of the following conditions, which could kill you if you carry the pregnancy to term.
1. Cardiac or cardiovascular anomalies
When the arteries of your baby’s heart have severe defects (also known as cardiac anomalies), there is a high possibility that the baby will die at birth. Mother’s with conditions like gestational diabetes need continuous monitoring for the fetus is likely to develop this complication.
2. Amniotic band syndrome
This happens when parts of the amniotic sac wrap themselves around the fetus’s head or umbilical cord. That is why you need to go for ultrasound scans during pregnancy at a reputable hospital.
3. Ectopic Pregnancies
A fertilized egg is supposed to implant in the uterus. Unfortunately, sometimes that happens outside the uterus like in the fallopian tubes. It’s not possible for a fetus to develop in the tubes.
Therefore, when the implantation happens somewhere other than the uterus, it leads to severe pelvic pain and vaginal bleeding. Under such circumstances, therapeutic abortion is the best way to save the mother’s life.
4. Renal disease
If your kidneys do not work like they’re supposed to, you develop renal diseases. Women who suffer from kidney diseases tend to have life-threatening complications during pregnancy.
5. Cancer and malignant tumors
You can successfully carry a pregnancy to term when suffering from cancer, provided you share that information with your doctor from the beginning. However, when you go through chemotherapy in the first trimester, your baby might develop severe congenital disabilities prompting the doctors to terminate the pregnancy.
6. Chromosomal abnormalities
You must have heard of conditions like Down syndrome, where one is born with an extra chromosome. When the fetus has abnormal chromosomes, you’re likely to get a miscarriage or stillbirth. Luckily, such genetic problems can be detected early in the pregnancy during antenatal clinics.
7. Severe diabetes mellitus
If your blood sugar is constantly high, legal abortion will save your life. Nevertheless, the fact that you suffer from diabetes doesn’t mean you can’t carry a pregnancy to term.
Conclusion
When your doctor recommends therapeutic termination of pregnancy, you’ll get some time to digest the news. In that period, you and your partner will go through counseling to help you through the difficult season.
Also, know that medics cannot make such a decision without carrying the right blood and urine tests to ensure that you need an abortion. If your life is in danger, you need to know that there may be no time for counseling before the procedure.
