Posted: 08.02.07 13:50. Post subject: 10000 абортов х 52 недели = 520 тыщ в год

10 000 ABORTIONS DONE IN SOUTH AFRICA IN A WEEK

60 per cent of centres offer abortions

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.

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.

She cites a 1994 unsafe abortion survey, which estimated that 425 women,
almost all black, died each year. Up to 45 000 women were admitted to
public health facilities each year with complications from incomplete
abortions.

A 1998-2001 mortality study by the Medical Research Council (MRC) found
there was a reduction of up to 91 per cent 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.

They challenge the provision that minors are able to have abortions without
the consent of their parents, and claim young girls are using abortion as a
means of contraception.

Gabriel said the minor provision clause was included in the act primarily
to protect young victims of incest and abuse from unsafe abortions. Girls
under 18 constitute just 11 per cent of all those using the service.

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.

Problems with implementing the law persist. Access to services depends on
which province you live in. Gauteng, at 208 602, and the Western Cape, at
80 118, account for the bulk of the 530 000 terminations from February 1997
to June 2006

Of the 350 state facilities designated to perform the service, 60 percent -
mostly hospitals - were functioning.

Saturday Argus Reported in Push Journal 05/Feb/07

SOURCE: Push Journal, 05/Feb/07