PHA-Exchange> SOUTH AFRICA/10 yrs of legal abortioncare/challenges remain

[Claudio]

From: "Marcy Bloom" <marcybloom at comcast.net>

10,000 abortions done in SA a week
>
> http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=125&art_id=vn20070
> 203111801174C569175
(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.
>