At the age of 15 Nzwakazi* discovered she was pregnant. ‘I almost commited suicide,’ she said. ‘I am the eldest of three kids and head of the household. How would I cope with a baby?’
After long deliberation, Nzwakazi decided that abortion was her best option. ‘I took a long time to think about it, and before I knew it I was four months pregnant and it was too late,’ she said.
Taking a friend’s advice, she contacted a man who illegaly sold abortion pills. ‘I bought them and he told me to come back to have my womb cleaned,” said Nzwakazi.
Later that night she took the pills and after a while she started experiencing severe pain. ‘I had never felt so much pain in my life. After the pain I started bleeding, and there was blood everywhere.” Crying she said she then felt something coming out of her vargina. ‘It was still connected to me so I remembered what the dealer told me and reached for a pair of scissors and cut the umbilical cord,” said a tearful Nzwakazi.
“I bled so much that I became weak, my young brother called our neighbour and shortly afterwards an ambulance came and I was taken to hospital,” she said.
She had to have an operation and doctors told her that her womb was badly damaged as a result of the abortion. “She will be lucky if her womb can still carry babies, in fact I will consider it a miracle,” said the doctor. ‘ OurHealth/Health-e News
* Not her real name
Selloane Molakeng is the OurHealth Journalist reporting from the Thabo Mofutsanyana Health district in the Free State.
