[Includes disturbing footage]
Producer: Kate Barry
Presenter: Ruda Landman
DIY ABORTIONS UPDATE
The abortion practice shown in the Carte Blanche story at Philadelphia hospital near Groblersdal in Mpumalanga in 2002 is illegal in South Africa. The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act became effective in 1996 (amended in 2008) and legalises abortion on demand in a variety of cases.
Other media reported later in 2002 that the Mpumalanga Health Tribunal’s charges against the nurse in the story were dropped after an internal disciplinary committee found her not guilty and her suspension was lifted. Abortion can only legally be performed by a midwife, a registered nurse trained for the procedure, a general practitioner or a gynaecologist. Generally, abortions are only legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. But access to the service is not always guaranteed – due to a shortage of medical staff and conscientious objection – healthcare workers refusing to perform abortions on religious grounds. Consequently, illegal and dangerous backstreet abortions still occur although data on their frequency is scarce, the World Health Organisation estimates that internationally as much as 13% of deaths around pregnancy could be the result of unsafe abortions.
In addition to State facilities there are a number of private clinics that offer free abortion procedures and counselling. The Department of Social Development encourages women to consider all options, but believes that abortion is in line with the Constitution as it enables the complete emancipation of women. Abortion remains a highly controversial issue around the world.
DIY Abortions [16]
News
23 June 2002A woman may have the right to an abortion, but is the system working? Carte Blanche goes undercover to investigate and find that patients in State clinics are left to do it themselves.