NARC-Kenya party leader Martha Karua has come out to defend Dandora-based activist Caroline Mwatha who lost her life while allegedly procuring an abortion.
A post-mortem conducted on Thursday showed that Mwatha died due to excessive bleeding from a ruptured uterus in the process of removing a foetus that was between five to six months.
The report has attracted mixed reactions with some Kenyans defending her action while others wondered how a human rights defender could lose her life while seeking to terminate the life of another human being.
On her part, Karua said Mwatha shouldn't be demonised for seeking 'medical help' and called for further investigations to establish the circumstances that led to her death.
"We need thorough investigations not conclusions! Seeking medical help is not a crime!" she posted on her official Twitter account.
In another post, the former presidential contender said people should stop asking why Mwatha, a married woman and mother of two, could risk her life by pursuing an abortion of more than five-month-old pregnancy.
"Perhaps the question should be why don't citizens have access to quality medical services including reproductive health services eight years after promulgation?" Karua posed.
In his report, family pathologist Dr Peter Ndegwa said that despite the post-mortem being conclusive, there was a need to establish whether the botched abortion was willing or induced.
Police have already arrested eight people who it is alleged were involved in the death of the activist who was a senior official at Dandora Community Social Justice Centre.
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