A report from Al Jazeera;
Despite tough anti-abortion laws in Indonesia, an estimated 1.3 million women have them each year, sometimes with painful consequences.
Four-year-old Berti is an example of what can happen when an abortion is performed on the black market.
He survived the attempt, but got hydrocephalus – a condition causing spinal fluid to swell his brain.
It has made him deaf and blind and doctors say he will be lucky to see his 11th birthday.
Trusti Moleyono of the Sayap Ibu Foundation says most of the 14 children living in its Jakarta orphanage were disabled through failed abortions.
She says Berti's mother did not want to have a ninth child, but since her life was not at risk she could not get it done legally.
So she went to a traditional healer instead, who gave her a special massage.
It did not work - so the woman abandoned Berti after giving birth at the hospital.
- Not allowed in cases of rape or incest, or to preserve a woman's physical or mental health
- Doctors face up to 15 years in prison if caught; the woman up to 4 years
- Estimated 1.3 million abortions each year, says Indonesia's Planned Parenthood Association
- Almost all are backstreet jobs done by doctors or traditional healers
Islamic Scholars, where are you?
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