South Africa / 10 yrs of legal abortion care /challenges remain
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10,000 abortions done in SA a week
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=125&art_id=vn20070203111801174C569175
(excerpts)
For South Africa's anti-abortion campaigners, Thursday was a day
of sadness and mourning. But for the government and women's
rights groups, it was a day for victory and celebration.
Ten years ago, on February 1 1997, the Choice on Termination of
Pregnancy Act came into effect, becoming one of the most liberal
abortion laws in the world.
It ordered that abortion services be made available on request
to a woman during her first trimester, or 12 weeks of pregnancy,
and also if it was a case of emergency.
Most important, according to rights groups, thousands of women
could now access safe and legal abortions and would no longer be
forced to resort to clandestine and dangerous backstreets for
abortions that left many injured and dead.
Judi Merckel, of the Reproductive Rights Alliance, which helped
to lobby the government for the legislation, says the fact that
around 530 000 women had legal abortions up to June 2006,
demonstrates a steady access to services nationally and progress
towards greater service provision.
Mosotho Gabriel, the country director for Ipas, a reproductive
health NGO, says the access of women to safe abortions,
performed by trained medical staff, has significantly cut
abortion deaths.
A 1998-2001 mortality study by the Medical Research Council
(MRC) found there was a reduction of up to 91 percent in deaths
from unsafe abortions. But detractors such as Doctors for Life
and the Christian Action Network continue to decry its existence
and have mounted one legal challenge after the next to have it
scrapped. Experts believe access to contraceptives needs to be
emphasised, and the attitudes of hostile health workers need to
change towards girls seeking abortions and contraceptives.
"The act is about protecting young women's health and lives and
serves to reduce the overwhelming and negative social and
economic impact of child-bearing on their lives," says Merckel.