Gynecology

Medical abortion

Series Name: 
Nursing Update
Published by: 
Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa

South Africa currently only provides for medical abortion in the private sector – however, the National Department of Health is finalising guidelines for implementation in the public sector. Given the demand for abortion services by women, the limited accessibility of surgical abortion there is a need to make medical abortion services available. This should address illegalmedical abortion providers currently advertising on lamppostsin public areas and the concerning maternal mortality rates.

Aids is a human rights issue

Series Name: 
Nursing Update
Published by: 
Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa
Marion Stevens, Women and HIV/AIDS Gauge, Health Systems Trust, shares initiatives in the pipeline to make Aids testing safer.

Barriers to Womens Rights in Implementation of The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act (CTOPA) in KwaZulu- Natal

Published by: 
Health Systems Trust

Unsafe abortions are recognised as a global health problem. It is estimated that, worldwide and annually, twenty (20) million abortions are induced by untrained people under medically unsafe conditions. It is further estimated that, worldwide and annually, eighty thousand (80 000) women die as a result of unsafe abortions while another five (5) million women suffer non-fatal health problems (UNDP) as a consequence of unsafe abortions.

Letter to the Editor - Lifting the Lid on Illegal Abortions

Your article 'Lifting the Lid on Illegal Abortions, 16 October 2007' makes clear the need for greater public awareness regarding the legality of termination of pregnancy (TOP), as well as for increased advocacy on behalf of women seeking TOP in South Africa. There were a few inaccuracies in the data presented. We are writing to correct these and to further convey the significance of the barriers women continue to face when attempting to access safe, legal TOP despite the passage of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act (CTOPA) in 1996.

Call for unit to root out illicit abortions

A separate unit dedicated to investigating illegal and backstreet abortion facilities may be needed to root out the increasing number of suspicious abortion facilities posing a danger to women's and public health.

THE RIGHT TO ABORTION HAS NOT BEEN IMPLICATED

Today the Constitutional Court handed down a decision in Doctors for Life International v Speaker of the National Assembly and others. This case is about a constitutional challenge launched against four Bills, three of which have now become Acts. Doctors for life contended that Parliament had failed in its duties to facilitate public participation when it passed the Bills.

Ten Years of Democracy in South Africa:Documenting Transformation in Reproductive Health Policy and Status

The advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 created a unique opportunity for new laws and policies to be passed. Today, a decade later, South African reproductive health policies and the laws that underwrite them are among the most progressive and comprehensive in the world in terms of the recognition that they give to human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights.