Marie Stopes was facing the threat of losing its operating licence after Kenya’s Director of Medical Services, Jackson Kioko, said the organisation would be shut down if it did not stop procuring abortions.
In remarks made on 22 November 2018, Kioko said the NGO had to follow directives issued the previous week by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board. “They have no choice. There is a board that registers and regulates services. If they do not comply, they will just close. We will withdraw their license,” he said.
The board had on Wednesday ordered Marie Stopes, which also provides contraception services, to stop offering abortion services. It also required the organisation to submit weekly returns for the next 60 days and review the guidelines it uses to deliver reproductive health services.
Regulators further instructed the clinic to remove all abortion advertisements. The directive came after CitizenGO, an advocacy group, collected 5,500 signatures and wrote to Health CS Sicily Kariuki two weeks earlier to complain about the adverts.
CitizenGO then called for legal action against Marie Stopes management over what it described as illegal abortion activity in the country. “We must after suspending this people charge them too,” spokesperson Anne Kioko said.
Kioko also said serious cases should be referred to the nearby health centre in order to comply with the board’s order. KMPDB chief executive Daniel Yumbya said the board was monitoring compliance and would issue a statement later. “They have submitted their returns. But the directive still stands unless otherwise communicated,” he said.
Marie Stopes lawyer Sofia Rajab declined to comment, saying she was in a meeting. The organisation also did not respond to an email sent by The Star before press time.
The dispute followed earlier reporting on the same issue, including a 16 November 2018 report on Marie Stopes being banned from conducting abortions in Kenya and a 12 September 2018 report on the Films Board banning a safe abortions campaign.
