Inaccessible Family Planning will Lead to a Rise in Unplanned Pregnancy: A Stark Reality for Many Young Women

Can you imagine what will happen to their education, their health, their future? That’s why we need to speak up as citizens. If the Nairobi City County Finance Bill 2023 becomes a law, it will spell disaster for women and teenagers from low-income homes, making them more vulnerable than they already are. Please sign this petition.

As a Nguvu Change Leader who advocates for youth welfare, I was shocked when I saw the national data from Kenya Health Information Systems. 110,821 teenagers became pregnant in the first 5 months of this year .About 11,000 of these cases were in Nairobi alone. And these are just the reported numbers. Think of all the unreported teenage pregnancies. My heart aches for these young women who are now denied the invaluable access to free reproductive health services and contraception, impacting their future in profound ways. Let’s do everything we can to protect them. Sign now.

The Likely Damage: The proposed law will limit their access to healthcare services including contraceptives and family planning in Level 4 hospitals (that is primary health centers and district hospitals) by making them chargeable. Women from vulnerable backgrounds and disadvantaged families will not be able to afford them. According to the bill and media reports, under the proposed law, it will cost KSh.500 to insert or remove an implant, KSh.350 to insert an IUCD and KSh.500 to remove it, and a Depo-Provera injection will cost KSh.150. Additionally, post abortion care will be ksh. 3000.

This is not merely a health or consumer rights issue. It is about their right to access reproductive healthcare, to make decisions for their own bodies and health. There is also a risk for this bill to be implemented in the remaining counties.

ACT NOW: It’s tragic that the Nairobi City Council raised the proposal on 12th September just days before World Patient Safety Day & World Contraception Day, whose theme was ‘the power of options’! We need to act fast and we don’t have much time. The only chance we have of being heard is if we come together and speak in one voice.

Sign my petition addressed to H.E Sakaja Arthur Johnson, the Governor of Nairobi County urging him to reject the proposal to introduce charges for Family Planning services at Level Four hospitals.

NEXT STEPS: Please sign and share this petition in all your family, friend circles, WhatsApp groups and social media accounts. Every signature counts. Every comment on this petition matters. Please support this effort for the sake of children, teenagers, women and families.

The power to make a difference is in our hands. I request you to join this citizens’ movement that champions affordable and accessible healthcare for girls and women in Nairobi. Let's be the change we want to see. Let’s build a Nairobi where access to family planning services is free and accessible to all.

Sign and share now #FreeFamilyPlanningForAll #NoToFamilyPlanningFees 

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