Providers of safe abortion services are now protesting constant harassment by the police.
The medics, under the Reproductive Health Network, offer wholesome reproductive health services to women, which sometimes includes safe and legal abortion.
But they now claim rogue police officers camp at some of their clinics demanding bribes and have dragged some of them to court.
RHN national secretary Simon Mwangi said many of the 467-member network have reported police harassment.
“About five have been dragged to courts on flimsy charges yet they provide abortion within the law,” he told journalists.
The medics are now forced to work alongside lawyers to defend them yet their work is protected by the constitution, Mwangi said.
Abortion is not permitted in Kenya unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law.
Mwangi said medics do not offer abortion on demand, and only work within the reasonable exemptions provided by law to save the lives girls and women who would otherwise be exposed to dangerous, back street abortions.
In 2012, nearly 120,000 women in Kenya received care for complications resulting from from unsafe abortions performed by quacks.
“Sometimes they send a woman to facilities claiming to seek abortion. A police officer will then arrive and start demanding bribes. We have told our members not to bribe the police. So some members are dragged to court and are acquitted but these cases take too long,” he said.
RHN members comprise doctors, and specialist clinical officers and nurses in 38 counties.
Judith Okal, a legal expert with reproductive health rights lobby Ipas, said the police are ignorant that the Constitution expanded the grounds for termination of pregnancies.
She faulted the Ministry of Health for not gazetting the 2012 Standards and Guidelines on safe and legal abortion.
“Police are just playing mindgames with services provider because they do not understand what the law says. The providers would also not be afraid to offer essential services if the regulations are there,” she said.
The guidelines were withdrawn by former Medical Services Director Francis Kimani.
The 2012 guidelines outlined where, how, by whom and under which circumstances an abortion should be performed.
A lobby group sued to compel the government to gazette the guidelines and the current DMS Dr Jackson Kioko says he can do nothing until the case is determined.
The ministry of health says there are nearly 465,000 induced abortions in Kenya every year, and virtually all of them are unsafe procedures performed by quacks.