Twenty-one year old Ângela lives in the district of Marracuene in the province of Maputo. When she was nineteen she became pregnant by a boy in the neighbourhood, who abandoned her when he discovered she was expecting a child.
Fearful of telling her parents, Angela told a school colleague, who informed her there was a chemist shop that sold abortion pills.
Apart from studying, Angela sold vegetables at the market in the village of Marracuene as well. It was from the sale of vegetables that she got the money to buy the pills for the abortion.
Angela bought the pills and used them according to the recommendations of the chemist.
Days later she complained of pains. She bled a lot and lost blood, which made her anaemic, and she was taken to hospital. Under counselling from a nurse, she learned in the hospital, that abortion is legal, efficacious and gratuitous.
In spite of the Mozambique law having legalised abortion within the first twelve weeks, there are still women who opt for the practice of clandestine abortion, thus causing a lot of complications to their health.