THE KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, has commended SAPS for the arrest of a Durban couple who were found guilty of operating an illegal abortion facility.
The couple, who appeared in the Durban Regional Court last week, pleaded guilty to operating a facility on Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme (West) Street.
The Ugandan national and his South African wife were arrested in a police sting operation in December. They were charged with five counts of contravening sections of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, and are due for sentencing on Friday.
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Reacting to these developments, Dhlomo urged women to remember that those who choose to terminate a pregnancy have a constitutional right to do so in a safe environment, where they will not be subjected to judgment and stigma.
“For people to conduct abortion, without authorization, is illegal. This Department has gone all out creating anti-illegal abortion awareness, staging marches and removing stickers that promote this practice. We commend the work done by our police. It must alert the public that if anybody has any pressure to terminate a pregnancy, the right place to go to is a clinic or a hospital. That is where you will find people who are trained to provide this service. Do not go to a backstreet abortion facility. Many people who have gone there have not come back to tell the story. They have died. So, we are really concerned as the Department of Health,” said Dhlomo.
The dangers of illegal abortion include death; severe bleeding; uterine perforation; tearing of the cervix; severe damage to the genitals and abdomen; internal infection of the abdomen and blood poisoning; and increased risk of infertility.
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According to the 2012 Saving Mothers report, in South Africa 186 women died of a septic miscarriage in public health facilities; 23% of which were caused by unsafe or illegal abortions.
A study by the South African Medical Research Council in 2010 also reported that 49 % of abortions are undergone by young people between the ages of 13 and 19 years and that these take place outside a hospital or clinic.
Since the Department intensified its Anti-Illegal Abortion Campaign in 2015, the number of women presenting to health facilities in KZN with complications after botched illegal abortions has significantly decreased. The department measures its success by judging against the increase of the number of women who come forward for legal Termination of Pregnancy. There has also been a marked increase in the number of facilities offering termination of pregnancies,from 14 in 2015 to 42 in 2017.
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