Abortion no big deal in South Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa. It is Saturday morning when I decide to take a tour around Johannesburg, just to see what is happening in Africa’s biggest city. Since my arrival in Johannesburg, about two weeks ago, I have never been able to really feel the city. I have remained indoors, which is boring, but I must admit that I am still afraid of being out in Jo’burg.As I go around the city centre especially in downtown, where I hear a number of people speaking Kiswahili, I am shocked by the number of posters advertising abortion services. ‘Quick same day abortion’, ‘Free Pain Abortion’, ‘Abort cheaply’ read some of the posters I see in different streets in Johannesburg. Abortion is legal here and practitioners have not shied away from competing for the would-be clients! In Kenya, abortion is banned and is often a controversial subject to talk about, lest one drew the wrath of religious leaders and the conservative in the society. However, this does not mean that the services are lacking, on the contrary, abortion is carried out discreetly, including in both public and private health facilities. The situation is not different in neighbouring Kenya and Uganda, with the former’s recent enactment of the new constitution almost rocked by religious leaders and conservative politicians who ganged to oppose a clause that granted permission to medical personnel to perform the operations in a medical emergency. But things are different in South Africa. In Johannesburg and other cities, abortion is offered readily. Though the law directs that only medical doctors and nurses who have received special training may perform abortions, still the ‘street doctors’ perform abortions illegally. There are a number of illegal abortion clinics and centres all around South Africa, according to local reports. The abortionists advertise on street lamp posts, electric meter boxes and the walls of some stores, leaving their contact numbers. However, it is said that most of these ‘unauthorised’ abortionists are not South Africans, but immigrants from several countries such as Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria. Some of them charge as little as R100 (Sh25, 500). While it is illegal to terminate a pregnancy at six months, some of these "doctors" indicate that they can offer the service even to eight-month-pregnant women.  Abortion is free at certain state hospitals or clinics in South Africa if the woman is referred by a health worker.  If one goes through one's own private doctor or a private hospital, there will be fees. Last year, a waitress at a restaurant in Sandton was a customer to an abortion clinic in Johannesburg. The Sowetan said it took her only thirty minutes to get rid of her 10 weeks pregnancy. “I went there only to find about five women in the queue, when my time came I entered the room where the doctor asked me a few questions and gave me some pills,” she said. According to her, she was given pills which she took in the presence of her ‘doctor’ and other supposed cleansing pills to take once the abortion was completed. “I started bleeding after two hours when I got home, the flow was not strong though, and it stopped after about two and a half hours, then I took the cleansing pills as I was advised by the doctor.”  In about five hours, her ‘mission’ was completed. Under the law legalising abortion, the Termination of Pregnancy Act, which was passed in 1997, a woman of any age can get an abortion if she is less than 13 weeks pregnant. The law also states that if a woman is between 13 and 20 weeks pregnant, she can get the abortion if she has a back up of some genuine reasons like poor physical or mental health, or pregnant because of rape or incest. If a woman is of the personal opinion that her economic or social situation is sufficient reason for the termination of pregnancy she can also choose to abort. “It gives freedom to a woman to choose whether she needs to have a baby or not, especially if the pregnancy came unexpectedly,” says Thandiswa Aphewi, a bank receptionist in Johannesburg. Thandi says she has not thought of aborting herself, but admits knowing three of her friends who have.  “It was a relief for them since they were not ready to be mothers at the time when they got pregnant.” “One of them was about to be chased away from home because her father could not tolerate having her pregnant at 20. She agreed with her mother that abortion was the solution,” says Ms Thandi. Sibongile Mukhabelele (23), who studies at well known university here, says South Africans are used to debating abortion and are no longer surprised to see banners advertising pregnancy termination services. She says pregnancy remains tricky for university students who accidentally become pregnant before completing their studies.  “I know some clinics in Braamfontein where most students have successfully sought abortions.” “A good number of them were foreigners, they could not go back to their home countries with the situation they got themselves into. Those clinics helped them get rid of their pregnancies and they are back in class,” said Ms Mukhabelele. According to her, many women in urban South Africa prefer abortions because raising a child is not simple. Lack of jobs in competitive cities like Johannesburg, where South Africans and immigrants fight for better paying jobs, has made women reluctant to have children early. South African men are also said to be good at ditching their girlfriends whenever they find out that they have conceived. A bank teller confessed to sponsoring four of his past girlfriends to abort. “Despite my job, life is too expensive to afford a baby right now,” says the employee of one of the commercial banks in Rosebank area, who is currently dating a fifth girl friend. But not all in South Africa support the abortion practice. While some women believe their religious or spiritual beliefs do not allow abortion, however legal, other people think that it is a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy, or not. Since the practice became legal, the health service is struggling to cope. Nearly 13,000 abortions were performed at state hospitals in the first six months of the passing of the law. Almost half were undertaken in Johannesburg's hospitals, which have met only half of the demand. A number of nurses have been discouraging women from abortion, by either refusing to help them with the requisite referral, or by giving them information about alternatives to abortion. South Africa's new pro-abortion law allows women to sue a nurse or other medical professionals for denying them an abortion or abortion information. Someone charged could face a fine or a prison term of up to 10 years. But the church has not yet accepted the matter a hundred per cent. “Life begins at conception. Every abortion stops a beating heart. How can we condemn child abuse in society when we allow the ultimate child abuse by abortionists?” asks Jeremy Mbalala, a priest in Johannesburg. However, the church’s stand seems to have no power at all since the law has given green light to the matter; it’s upon the people to bow to the law or the church. Statistics show that over 90 per cent of the abortions done in South Africa happen in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Under some circumstances, abortion can be done up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, but the procedure is safer and simpler if undertaken early. The figures also show that women from neighbouring countries where abortion is either not easily available or illegal are pouring south to take advantage of South Africa's pro-abortion legislation. It’s not clear how many women have died following abortions in the informal clinics in the streets, since after being given the pills they go home and whatever happens there remains a secret. However, legal abortion is also a significant cause of maternal death in South Africa, with 194 South African women reported to have died from abortion between 2005 and 2007, representing 4.9 per cent of all obstetric causes of maternal death.