This effectively means that any woman or girl lucky enough to survive a backstreet (which they usually are) abortion ordeal, and who is subsequently found out by the authorities, risks getting hauled off to court where society will condemn her further for breach of what many legal intellectuals increasingly view as a moral wrong (an offence in the same league as say adultery or premarital sex, for those countries with secular legal regimes, which nevertheless still punish these).
Atieno Ochieng' on a discussion about decriminalizing abortion. Read here.
