KABUL: When Bahara was four months pregnant, she went to a Kabul hospital to beg for an abortion. &quot;We&#39;re not allowed,&quot; a doctor told her. &quot;If someone finds out, we will all end up in prison.&quot;&nbsp;Abortion in Afghanistan is illegal and you can be locked up for having or assisting one.&nbsp;But Bahara was desperate.&nbsp;Her jobless husband had ordered her to &quot;find a solution,&quot; he did not want a fifth daughter.&nbsp;&quot;We can barely afford to feed&quot; the girls as it is, Bahara, 35, told AFP. &quot;If it was a boy, he could go to school and work.&quot;&nbsp;But there are no such prospects for a girl, with women banned from secondary schools, universities and most jobs since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.&nbsp;So Bahara took a neighbor&#39;s advice and bought, for the equivalent of two dollars, a herbal tea at the market made from a type of mallow that induces contractions.&nbsp;The bleeding was so bad she had to go back to the hospital. &quot;I told them that I had fallen, but they knew I was lying because I had no marks on my body. They were angry but did not report me,&quot; said the mother-of-four.&nbsp;&quot;They operated and removed the remains of the fetus. Since then I have felt very weak.&quot;&nbsp;The plant she used can be &quot;very risky,&quot; said ethno botanist Guadalupe Maldonado Andrade from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. A wrong dose can cause organ damage and severe hemorrhaging.&nbsp;Bahara&#39;s is not an isolated case.&nbsp;Two other women AFP talked to during our months-long investigation also risked their lives to abort. Nesa took tablets toxic to the embryo and Mariam crushed her stomach with a heavy stone.&nbsp;Of the dozen women AFP talked to about their clandestine abortions, only five agreed to be interviewed on condition we protected their anonymity and changed their names.&nbsp;Even outside Taliban circles, the fear of being stigmatized, and arrested, is strong in Afghanistan&#39;s deeply conservative society.&nbsp;More &#39;miscarriages&#39;With such a taboo, and no real statistics, Sharafat Zaman of the Afghan health ministry insisted &quot;few&quot; women are affected.&nbsp;The Taliban, who follow a strict interpretation of Islam, did not change the abortion laws when they returned to power in 2021.&nbsp;But officials check more often that terminations are not being carried out in hospitals, panicking doctors and pushing women to have abortions in secret, according to many health sector workers AFP interviewed.&nbsp;Several doctors said the number of miscarriages has increased since 2021, which they suspect may conceal clandestine abortions given the injuries patients present and their psychological state.&nbsp;Two international medical organizations also said they noticed the same trend, while access to contraception has become more difficult.&nbsp;&quot;Budget constraints and the forced closure of family planning services endanger access to modern contraception,&quot; a UN source told AFP, saying less than half of Afghan women have access to methods such as condoms, implants or pills.&nbsp;Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world, with young women banned from training as midwives or nurses in medical schools since last year.&nbsp;While health ministry spokesman Zaman acknowledged the dangers of clandestine abortions, and that some women face &quot;problems&quot;, he said it was not the government&#39;s fault.&nbsp;Abortion is permitted when the life of a pregnant woman is in grave danger. However, in practice it is rarely granted. For the Taliban abortion is &quot;taking a life&quot;, Zaman said.&nbsp;He didn&#39;t want another girl&quot;Before (the Taliban&#39;s return) we were able to perform more abortions, there were NGOs helping us and no government checks,&quot; said a 58-year-old gynecologist in Kabul.&nbsp;&quot;Now doctors are afraid because if they check prescriptions at a pharmacy, it&#39;s very dangerous&quot; for them.&nbsp;Women are afraid to ask for a termination in hospital, she said, &quot;so more are trying it at home, and then they go to hospital saying they have had a miscarriage.&quot;&nbsp;Some pharmacies sell them the abortion drug misoprostol without a prescription, the doctor said.&nbsp;While some healthcare workers are compassionate, others can demand exorbitant sums in what is one of the world&#39;s poorest countries.&nbsp;Nesa, a mother of eight daughters and one son, found out she was pregnant with another girl at four months.&nbsp;&quot;I knew if my husband found out, he would throw me out. He thinks we do better with boys,&quot; the 35-year-old farmer said.&nbsp;&quot;I begged a clinic to help me. They asked for 10,000 Afghanis (130 euros), which I didn&#39;t have. I went to the pharmacy without a prescription and they gave me a malaria drug, saying it would help.&quot;&nbsp;The only antimalarial drugs available in Kabul pharmacies are chloroquine and primaquine, drugs that should not be used during pregnancy, according to the French agency for medicine safety (ANSM), because they are potentially toxic to the fetus.&nbsp;&quot;I started bleeding and lost consciousness,&quot; Nesa said. &quot;I was taken to the hospital and I begged the doctors not to report me and they removed the remains of the fetus.&quot;&nbsp;Constant painMariam, 22, had an affair. While abortion is a source of shame in Afghanistan and weighs on the entire family, sex outside marriage is often dangerous, sometimes leading to femicides known as &quot;honor killings.&quot;&nbsp;One month into her pregnancy, &quot;my mother contacted a midwife, but she asked for too much money. So my mother brought me home, placed a very heavy stone on my belly and crushed my stomach.&nbsp;&quot;I screamed and started bleeding,&quot; Mariam said. &quot;I went to the hospital and they told me the embryo was gone. Now I am depressed and constantly have stomach pain.&quot;&nbsp;Only one third of women globally live in countries where abortion is allowed on demand, according to the US NGO Center for Reproductive Rights. Illegal abortions result in 39,000 deaths a year worldwide, it estimates.&nbsp;A Kabul midwife told AFP she feels &quot;helpless and weak for not being able to help (women) more.&quot; A gynecologist in the Nangarhar region in the east of the country was equally despairing.&nbsp;&quot;I feel for these women, I vowed to help them by becoming a doctor. But we can&#39;t,&quot; she said.

Afghanistan

Abortion in Afghanistan is illegal and you can be locked up for having or assisting one.

Abortion in Afghanistan: 'My mother crushed my stomach with a stone'

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: As the United Nations observes 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, we take a look at Pakistan&#39;s efforts to combat digital violence against women. The theme this year for the annual global campaign, which runs from November 25 through December 10, is &ldquo;End Digital Violence against Women and Girls: Safe Spaces for All.&rdquo;&nbsp; Digital violence is a growing threat that disproportionately affects women and girls worldwide. Pakistan has responded with specific legislation, though implementation gaps remain. Legal framework Pakistan&#39;s primary tool for addressing online harassment is the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) of 2016, which criminalizes various forms of digital abuse. The law includes provisions against cyberstalking, unauthorized sharing of intimate images and cyber blackmail. Section 24A of PECA specifically addresses non-consensual distribution of private images, carrying penalties of up to five years imprisonment and fines reaching Rs1 million ($3,600). The Federal Investigation Agency&#39;s Cyber Crime Wing, established in 2007, handles complaints and investigations under PECA. The agency reported receiving 8,500 complaints from women facing online harassment in 2018 and 2019, though only 19.5% were investigated, according to testimony before a parliamentary committee. Pakistan&#39;s Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act of 2016 specifically defines violence to include cybercrime, acknowledging it as a form of abuse. The FIA is required by law to submit biannual reports to parliament but has submitted only one report in four years, according to Human Rights Watch. Recent case In a recent application of the law, a Karachi court sentenced a man to six years in prison for sending explicit photos of a woman to her fianc&eacute;. The defendant, identified only as Anas, was arrested in September 2021 after the victim filed a complaint with the FIA. The court also imposed a fine of Rs90,000 ($318). According to court documents, the victim had been in a relationship with Anas for four years and had shared intimate photos with him. When her family arranged her marriage to another man, Anas sent the photos to her fianc&eacute;. Enforcement challenges Despite the legal framework, women&#39;s rights advocates and journalists have raised concerns about inconsistent enforcement. In 2020, a group of prominent female journalists issued a statement condemning what they described as a coordinated campaign of online harassment, including threats of violence. The FIA operates with approximately 500 staff members for a country of 34 million internet users. Until 2018, only two women staffed the cybercrime help desk, according to news reports. Human rights organizations have also criticized PECA&#39;s defamation provisions, warning they can be misused to silence women. 16 Days of Activism The 16 Days campaign, coordinated by the Center for Women&#39;s Global Leadership and supported by UN Women, addresses violence affecting nearly one in three women globally. This year&#39;s focus on digital violence reflects the growing recognition of online harassment as a serious threat. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that there was an urgent need for survivor-centered responses and stronger legal protections. The campaign uses orange as its symbolic color, representing a future free from violence.

Security

The global campaign from November 25 to December 10 highlights rising digital violence, with Pakistan addressing it through legislation, though gaps remain.

Articles tagged with "women's rights"

Abortion in Afghanistan: 'My mother crushed my stomach with a stone'

16 Days of Activism: How Pakistan tackles digital violence against women