Illegal abortion network unearthed in Namibia

A two-week Informanté investigation by Patience Nyangove into the abortion underworld has unearthed a world of errant doctors, pharmacists, drug kingpins who are making a killing.


Doctors induce abortions without batting eye lids while pharmacists sell abortion pills over the counter and drug kingpins are also selling the tablets like airtime.

Last week, the investigation took Informanté to Dr Kenny Abrahams’ Khomasdal surgery. Dr Abrahams was more than ready to initiate the abortion process but the reporter had no money at the time.

This week, the reporter visited a respected gynaecologist Dr Matti Kimberg’s practice in Eros where the reporter underwent an abortion process after the insertion of four tablets through the vagina and one that was sucked.

The investigation comes after several reports of young women who had successfully aborted although the practice is still illegal in Namibia.

Informanté discovered that abortion drug - Cytotec or Misoprostol – is readily available on the streets of Windhoek while in the North, abortion doctors still use forceps to kill the foetus.

A network of errant doctors, pharmacists and drug kingpins involved are making a killing from facilitating these abortions and the illegal sale of drugs for as little as N$100 to as much as N$1,500.

Clinically Cytotec or Misoprostol is used for the prevention of gastric ulcers, however, in Namibia it is now commonly used to induce labour and cause a person to miscarry or abort the baby.

According to an Oshakati-based pharmaceutical, Cytotec can only be bought with a doctor’s prescription, the details of which are entered into the pharmacy’s database.

“A professional doctor will insist that a woman undergoes a pregnancy test before prescribing Cytotec. The drug should under no circumstances be prescribed to a pregnant woman because it can cause great harm to the expecting mother or to the growing foetus, and in some cases causes natural abortions. That’s why when we get a doctor’s prescription for the drug, we always enter the doctor’s details in our system for future scrutiny,” said the pharmaceutical.

In August 2000, Searle—the manufacturer of Misoprostol or Cytotec warned against the use of Misoprostol in pregnant women. In addition to citing the abortifacient nature of the drug, the company cited reports of uterine rupture and death associated with using Misoprostol to induce labour.

Taking Misoprostol 200 µg tablet by mouth four times a day results in diarrhoea, abdominal pains, nausea, flatulence, headache, dyspepsia, vomiting and constipation.

From pharmacists, surgery employees to medical doctors who illegally keep the abortion tread mill running, an abortion is an easy process as long as one has the money.

A Cytotec tablet sells for N$100 and pharmacists are making a killing by selling a packet of 56 tablets for as much as N$5,250 after buying it for less than N$350.

An encounter with a street kingpin, Lanie, was at Dr Abrahams’ surgery in Khomasdal where this reporter was told that the doctor could perform the abortion.

“The doctor does abortions here but he charges N$1,500. He is expensive, however, I know a guy who can sell you abortion tablets for N$800,” said Lanie who introduced himself as a stock controller.

Since the reporter did not have the money, she arranged to meet Lanie later to buy the drugs and she met him she bought five Cytotec tablets for N$700 instead of the N$800 they had originally agreed to.

The reporter was instructed to drink two of the tablets and insert three into her vagina.

When she asked him why she had to insert the three tablets and drink two, Lanie said it was to increase “pressure” on the uterus to begin labour contractions.

According to Lanie, most of his clients are students from Windhoek’s colleges and universities, impregnated by sugar daddies or those whose boyfriends would have denied paternity and are afraid of being stigmatised for falling pregnant outside wedlock.

When asked what she should do in an event that she developed complications during the abortion, Lanie instructed the reporter not to go and seek medical help from any doctor or health institution but to come back to him for help.

Lanie also gave the reporter Ranclav 375 antibiotics tablets with instructions to take them thrice daily for five days.

He also wrote a medical certificate for her employer certifying that she could not come to work as she was sick.

After quizzing Lanie on the safety of the abortion, the reporter was told that the drugs were perfectly safe because his girlfriend had used them to abort a two-month pregnancy.

“She is the mother of my child and it really pained me that I had to abort our baby. But you see she got pregnant when our first child was still so young and I could barely take care of them hence we decided to terminate the pregnancy.”

In the Northern regions of the country, girls that have undergone backstreet abortions have had to go through more painful procedures as the use of Cytotec is rare and almost unheard of.

For the few that can afford to undergo an illegal abortion, which normally costs as much as N$2,000 or more, a sharp, long metal object is inserted through the vagina to ‘provoke’ the foetus, inevitably leading to a miscarriage.

“When I went through this very painful procedure I was told by the doctor to go to the hospital for treatment once I experienced intensive vaginal bleeding. When I got to the hospital, the hospital staff ruled my abortion as a miscarriage because they didn’t know the difference,” said a girl who underwent an illegal abortion earlier this year.

When contacted for comment on why he was carrying out illegal abortions Dr Abrahams refused to comment on the issue.

“I have no comment,” Abrahams said.

After pressing him, Dr Abrahams who for the better part of Tuesday last week, was said to be still sleeping until 14h00 said it was his right to choose not to comment.

Lanie who works for Abrahams as a “stock controller” and also sells the Cytotec drugs denied ever selling any abortion drugs to this reporter.

“Me, I am sorry, I don’t know anything about what you are saying. I don’t know anything about this, I was not even in town last week,” Lanie said.

However the pharmacist who also illegally sells Cytotec drugs to women without a prescription admitted to Informanté that she does it.

“I do sell the drugs to help my friends, however I only do it after in some cases after assessing how far one’s pregnancy is. I know the severe side effects of this drug but what can I do, I need the money,” she said.

When Informanté volunteered to give the Ministry of Health evidence and help in unearthing and making a stop to the illegal abortions, its spokesperson gave a laissez-faire attitude, saying the “homework you are giving me is beyond my scope”.

The Ministry of Health’s public relations officer Gladys Kamboo said although they were serious allegations Informanté was bringing to their attention she professed ignorance over whether abortions were indeed being conducted in Windhoek.

“This is very serious, if indeed these things are happening. We are not aware of this and if people are doing this it’s their problem, they are acting out of their own scope,” she said.