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{
    "id": 1423530,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1423530/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 408,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 170,
        "legal_name": "Bonny Khalwale",
        "slug": "bonny-khalwale"
    },
    "content": "in this very innovative Bill, I urge that we put a provision in Clause 11 to find a place for abortion in two ways. When a woman who gets a spontaneous abortion lands at KNH emergency room, they are treated as if they were seeking an illegal abortion. The treatment is traumatizing. When a woman, who was three months pregnant and has been waiting for this baby arrives in hospital and there are also other women who have procured a backstreet abortion there - something we call incomplete abortion - they are all treated very inhumanely because the assumption is that all these women might have sought backstreet abortions. We need the law to be clear, so that care is given to these women. More importantly, since the Mover has remembered the mental health of the pregnant women, we need to have counselling services at the abortion end of the law to provide for mental care for women whose children die when procuring an abortion. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 12 speaks to the role of the Cabinet Secretary. The Mover of the Bill has clearly given those roles and I want to laud you. Given the experience we have had with the fertilizer, it looks like we should continue going your route, so that every law can tell a Cabinet Secretary their role. This is to ensure that when a Cabinet Secretary for Health fails to observe what you have stipulated in Clause 12 and a Motion of impeachment is brought against them, they do not start shifting blame. The death of a mother or a baby is extremely traumatizing. If there was something that a Cabinet Secretary was supposed to do to prevent it and they do not, then let us be where Finland, Sweden, the USA are, where the Cabinet Secretary takes political responsibility. I laud you for this. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in Clause 13, the Bill seeks to ensure that reports are taken to Parliament. The Mover says that the report shall include a description of the activities and interventions undertaken by the Ministry in respect to the maternal newborn and child health services. Then there is part B and C. The Mover should consider amending the Bill by introducing 13(2)(d) where I propose that in D, the report to be brought to Parliament should include a record of the maternal deaths and neo natal deaths per county. This is important because we are now in the era of devolution. In the new Constitution, devolution is about serving people and this is a Bill seeking to ensure that the people starting life and the women giving people an opportunity to start a life, get the best services. Madam Mover, it means that if we get this per county records, we shall introduce the factor of maternal and neonatal deaths in the formula for sharing revenue. This will ensure that the counties that have the highest number of maternal deaths such as Mandera, Wajir and Turkana can actually have it factored in, so that they get a higher allocation to be able to meet that particular challenge. Let me pause for a second because I can see Sen. Kavindu Muthama is here."
}