CHENNAI : Women dying during illegal abortions mostly gets tucked in the single columns of the newspapers. But where are these places that offer illegal abortions? They seemed to be places that were difficult to find. But that is only until you manage to strike a conversation with the odd nurse, who is present in every big hospital — the person who can guide you to places where doctors or quacks are more than ready to perform illegal abortions, which established hospitals normally don’t entertain.
When I visited one such ‘hospital’ located on the Tiruvottiyur High Road in North Chennai, it almost looked like a deserted building. The two-storeyed structure painted in dusty brown was hard to miss, but it could be easily mistaken for a haunted or abandoned house. However, local women knew this as the place to approach to get a foetus aborted, the place where they need not be worried about legal restrictions or mandates.
Tinted glass windows, a white board declaring the name of a hospital and doctor served as the façade. The consulting hours was from 9 am to 5 pm. I tried to call a phone number mentioned on the board, but no one answered on the other end.
The building was accessible through a small rusted white gate, which lead to another gate. A few steps more and a dark alley lead upstairs, which gave an impression that the place was not in use. A little more of trudging and I was led to a corridor resembling a hospital, which was last used about 25 years ago.
On the left, there were two consulting rooms for doctors, which were kept locked. The only furniture seen were the eight wooden benches in the waiting hall. Another flight of stairs and I was lead to the room where the abortion takes place.
Women were seen waiting outside anxiously for their turn. As I walked in, they turned their eyes toward me. I quietly took a seat on a plastic chair in the room, which had only minimal furniture — a wooden bench beneath which used cotton swabs were strewn around, an old steel table on which a notebook, scissors and few medicines were kept.
Beside me was a bed, the colour of the bedspread had changed due to the dirt and cat fur belonging to the doctor’s pet. The small portico at the end of the room had dried plants in the garden.
There were around four women seated in the room. I tried to talk to them about the doctor, and one of them told me that the old woman was a doctor, who had lost her license after a medico-negligent accident a few years ago. But the conversation could not continue for long as every now and then, a small door opened and a staff came out to check how many patients were due for the day.
When their turn came up, the women were taken inside “that room” where the abortion happened.
The male relatives were not allowed inside the room. Only the patient and a woman helper were allowed. I waited patiently for about half an hour, and when my turn came, I was taken by surprise to find that the doctor was an elderly woman, probably in her 70’s.
The dark lipstick and thick dark eyebrows stood out on her very fair skin. She moved around with a walking stick. This room, where the abortions were carried out, was even smaller than the waiting area. it had a wash basin, a mirror and a table on which gloves and medical equipment for abortions were kept.
The woman looked up to me, I nervously (just to make sure she believed me!) said that my sister wanted to get an abortion done, but she was only 16-years-old and my parents did not know about it.
“How many months is she pregnant? Bring her by today, I will examine her and then perform the surgery during the weekend as it would be convenient for her since there will be no school,” said the doctor.
She immediately adds, “I will not give any prescription or admit card and it would cost minimum `10,000, depending on the growth of the baby.” I nod and leave the room.
While waiting at the hospital, I managed to make friends with a patient who shared her experience. She came to the ‘hospital’ with her mother to get her three-month-old baby aborted.
The woman said she was 10 weeks pregnant when her husband allegedly abandoned her. “I approached doctors at a private hospital for an abortion, but scan reports showed the baby was growing fast, which would be risky if terminated. The doctor referred me to the old woman in Thiruvattiyur,” she said.
“After seeing the condition of the hospital, I begged my mother to take me back home. But I had no other option but to stay put. During the procedure, my screams fell on deaf ears. I got even more scared when I saw myself bleeding. After the procedure, I fell sick, had severe pain and my arms and legs started swelling,” she added.
“I was shocked to know that basic medical procedures like knowing the patient’s blood group, checking the blood pressure or even inquiring about their health history did not interest the doctor. During the procedure, a radio was turned on to full volume. At first, I had no idea why it was there. Only later I realised that it was an indicator that the process had begun. One person assisted the doctor during the whole procedure, which went on for one-and-a-half hour. I was not even provided anesthesia. I lied on the hospital bed, exhausted, bleeding and lacking stamina even to cry,” recalled the woman, adding, “Later, my mother handed over to the staff a can of water to clean the room. She then paid `10,000-`15,000 for the abortion.”
When I checked with the city corporation if the hospital had a license to perform legal abortion, an official said it was given a license in 1986. But the official also admitted that an inspection was conducted only during the issuance of license. “There is no regular inspection conducted to check the hygiene unless a complaint was raised,” the official added.