A 15-year-old schoolgirl who had an illegal abortion has reportedly bled to death.
The person who is alleged to have helped her undergo the procedure in the central county of Tharaka-Nithiy in Kenya has been arrested by police, Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper reports.
Abortions are illegal in Kenya, but a doctor is allowed to perform one if a woman’s life is in danger.
The news of the teenager’s death comes as a new study suggests that one in four pregnancies globally ends in an abortion.
Researchers from the World Health Organization and Guttmacher Institute say the annual number of abortions worldwide increased from 50 million a year between 1990-1994 to 56 million a year between 2010-2014.
The rise in numbers is mostly seen in the developing world – driven in part by population growth and by a desire for smaller families.
The study points out that abortion rates were similar across countries – regardless of whether terminations are legal or not.
