Anti-illegal abortion awareness campaign

The North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha and the provincial leadership recently led an awareness campaign on illegal abortions in the province, including Dr Kenneth Kaunda District.

Participants from the Tlokwe sub-district were delighted with the much-anticipated anti-illegal abortion march. Over 200 participants from the community, supporting partners and other stakeholders marched through the Potchefstroom CBD to Cachet Park on 11 March. “The march kicked off in Kerk Street, the area identified as having many providers of these illegal procedures,” Thembeka Zenzile, district primary healthcare nursing specialist, explained.

“The department’s problem is that the women using these backstreet services often flock to the healthcare facilities with serious complications. This is not only costly to the department, but it creates a burden on the healthcare system,” said Sambatha.

The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy (C-TOP) Act, No. 92 of 1996, allows women to terminate unwanted pregnancies at designated facilities using trained health providers. Any service of this nature, performed by untrained people and other than those at designated sites, is illegal.
“The Choice of Termination of Pregnancy (C-TOP) is a reproductive right. Every woman has the freedom to choose an early, safe and legal termination of pregnancy, according to her individual belief. The decision to have children is fundamental to the woman’s physical, psychological and social health,” Thembeka Zenzile added.

The awareness campaign aims to promote universal access to the safe and legal termination of pregnancy. “The department hopes to significantly reduce the number of maternal deaths from 120 to 70 per 100,000 live births. Many of these deaths are caused by illegal termination procedures,” Zenzile added.

Since the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act was implemented in 1996, North West has made the service available in more than 18 health facilities like hospitals and community health centres.
In the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District, facilities like those in Klerksdorp-, Potchefstroom- and Nic Bodenstein hospitals, are accredited to provide safe C-TOP.

Less than 12 weeks before the new financial year (April 2021 to date), Klerksdorp Hospital had recorded 580; Potchefstroom Hospital, 283 and Nic Bodenstein Hospital, 175. For pregnancies between 13 and 20 weeks, Klerksdorp Hospital recorded 147 and Potchefstroom Hospital, three. Nic Bodenstein Hospital recorded none as they do not offer ToP services beyond 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Termination of any pregnancy between 13 and 20 weeks can only be done in certain circumstances: if keeping the pregnancy would pose a risk to the woman’s physical or mental health; the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest; the continued pregnancy would significantly affect the woman’s social or economic circumstances or a substantial risk exists that the foetus would suffer from a severe physical or mental abnormality.

The district recorded 235 C-TOP procedures in the 10–19 age category at Klerksdorp Hospital between April 2021 to date. Potchefstroom Hospital recorded 115 and Nic Bodenstein Hospital, 22 for the same age group. Klerksdorp Hospital recorded 597 in the age group of 20 years and older; Potchefstroom Hospital had nine and Nic Bodenstein, 154.

“The Department of Health will continue to fight illegal abortion at all costs,” said Sambatha. “As a department that cares for its community and future generations, our role is to help reduce the number of septic abortions, advocate for community support in the fight against illegal abortions and prevent teenage pregnancy. We must also prevent unwanted pregnancy among the general population, promote family planning services and dispel myths (cultural, social, spiritual) regarding sex, contraception and the use of condoms. We have to promote human rights and access to justice on health issues like HIV/Aids and STIs,” the MEC added.

Sambatha believes prevention is better than cure. The department encourages everyone who is sexually active, irrespective of age, to use dual protection – contraceptives and condoms – to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections.

“We also provide emergency contraception within 72 hours of unprotected sex. Those who wish not to have children anymore should have their tubes ligated. Both women and men can do so through a process called tubal ligation. In women, the fallopian tubes are cut or tied to disrupt the path normally taken by the eggs from the ovaries. The men’s procedure is called a vasectomy and involves cutting and sealing the tubes that carry sperm, cutting the supply of sperm to the semen,” concluded Mr Ishmael Moloi, the acting chief director in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District.