Student goes blind after abortion attempt

Atebubu (B/A), July 17, GNA - The Atebubu District Office of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice is investigating a case in which a 20 year-old student of Yeji Secondary School became blind in her attempt to abort a three-month old pregnancy she was carrying.

Mariama Issah was alleged to have attempted to terminate the pregnancy with herbal concoction and some tablets provided by her boyfriend.

Mr Vasco Kwadwo Nyamekye, District Director of the Commission, told the Ghana News Agency that the boyfriend, Samatu Alhassan, a 30 year-old painter, prepared the herb and asked her to insert it into her vagina to terminate the pregnancy.

He said Alhassan visited her the next day and gave her some tablets to take but she collapsed soon after taking them and was rushed to St. Matthias Catholic hospital at Yeji, where it was detected that the tablets had adversely affected parts of the womb and genitals. Mariama was taken to the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi and her blindness was diagnosed to have been caused by the attempts to abort the pregnancy.