Suba North Member of Parliament Millie Odhiambo emotionally narrated how she was severally shamed for abortions when she was young, due to her health issue.
Odhiambo, while speaking at Citizen TV's JKL, informed anchor Jeff Koinange that she would later discover she had fibroids after being accused by doctors of terminating children every month whenever she went for check-ups.
"When I was younger and I had my menses, I was always admitted to hospital every single month. I would have severe cramps and blood loss. I went to a number of hospitals and all I was told is there was a mass. They could not tell me what it was.
"When I went to school in New York, that is when I was informed I had fibroids. Every time I went to the hospital, I was told I had committed abortions," Odhiambo recalled.
The legislator went on to reveal that her woes deepened as another doctor mistook her issue for a sexually transmitted disease.
"One time after I had started working I went to the hospital and I was given documentation to take back to work. I walked around with it from office to office. However, I was shocked on finding out that the doctor had written I was infected with a sexually transmitted disease, yet I was not sexually active.
"Imagine I was showing people that I had an STD. I only knew of it after a friend of mine who cared enough called me aside and explained what the doctor had scribbled," Odhiambo disclosed.
Odhiambo was responding to a person who had requested Jeff Koinange to ask the legislator if one of her bills included surrogacy.
"Yes my bill known as Assisted Reproductions Technologys's Bill includes surrogacy, so I understand what these women go through. Actually, for myself, should I chose to have a child, I have given myself a deadline of up to December 2019 to decide whether or not I want to go through assisted reproduction. If December comes and I have not decided, I will let it pass.
"I have seen the tears of women and I was shocked to feel their pain. I went to a meeting once and fortunately, I was the first to arrive. However, before I knew it I was in a pool of blood. The chairperson of the meeting was a man and I did not know how to ask him to step out of the room. He looked at me and assured me all will be well as he was a gynaecologist.
She went on to condemn an incident where a form 3 student at Marindi Secondary school in Nyamira County committed suicide on Sunday, September 15, after she was humiliated by her school teacher over her menses.
"The teacher made a mistake. Your periods as a woman are a part of you. I always assure girls to be proud of it. Making people feel dirty because they have menses is wrong because it is a normal thing," Odhiambo blasted.
Here is the video, courtesy of Citizen TV.
