PARLIAMENTARY BULLETIN

TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY BILL

The Termination of Pregnancy Bill is the most important piece of health legislation to come before Parliament in this session. It puts into effect the constitutional right of persons to make decisions concerning reproduction and security in, and control over, their bodies. The right to allow women to terminate pregnancy is not only in the Constitution, but it is a clear ANC policy and was in the ANC's 1994 election manifesto. On this basis, the ANC Caucus will be voting for the Bill.

The Main Features of the Bill

Under the Bill, a woman will have the right to choose to have an abortion during the first 12 weeks of her pregnancy.

From the 13th to the 20th weeks of pregnancy, she may choose to have an abortion if a doctor is of the opinion that:

• the continued pregnancy is a risk to the woman's physical or mental health, or
• there is a substantial risk that the foetus would suffer a severe physical or mental abnormality, or
• the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest, or
• the pregnancy would severely affect the woman's social and economic circumstances.

After the 20th week of pregnancy, abortion can still take place if the pregnancy would endanger the woman's life or severely deform the foetus.

Abortion can only occur with the consent of the pregnant woman, unless she is incapable of consent.

Why is the Bill Being Introduced?

The Bill is being introduced for compelling medical reasons. The Bill does not introduce abortion into South Africa - abortions are already being carried out, either unlawfully, or lawfully under the 1975 Abortion and Sterilization Act. The Bill instead seeks to regulate an existing situation under which:

• 200,000 abortions take place every year - 2,500 are lawful
• 45,000 women end up in hospital with incomplete abortions - 99 per cent of them black
• 425 women die in hospital every year from septic abortions - all are black
• 7,000 women become moderately sick, and 6,000 become severely ill because of back-street abortions or inadequate services.

The health service is already bearing a cost of over R18.5m a year to treat women made ill through incomplete abortions; that money could be used instead to fund 88,000 safe abortions.

Objections and Answers

O: This Bill introduces abortion into South Africa

A: Legal and illegal abortion already exist in South Africa. This Bill neither introduces abortion, nor legalises it. It is simply seeking to regulate what is already happening outside the law. The choice is between illness and death through self-inflicted and back-street abortions, or safe abortion properly regulated by professional health services.

O: This Bill encourages abortion

A: This Bill does not encourage abortion, it simply makes it safe. The key to reducing abortion is not to ban it, but to prevent unwanted pregnancies from occurring in the first place - through proper sex education, increasing access to contraception, sterilisation, counselling and other services. The Department of Health is already very active in improving access to such services.

O: This Bill is immoral

A: This is not a morality Bill, but a health Bill. There will never be consensus on the morality of abortion. The Government has not taken a moral position, but has introduced this Bill on health grounds alone, although it respects the moral and religious views and convictions of all in society. The Government must carry out its duty to protect the health of its citizens.

O: This Bill is imposing abortion on people

A: This Bill protects freedom of choice. It will allow women the freedom of choice to terminate a pregnancy if they wish, and it will allow women the freedom to choose not to have an abortion. Every woman must be allowed to exercise her choice without imposing it on others.

O: This Bill does not allow doctors or health professionals who oppose abortion freedom of choice

A: The Bill does not make a specific provision for the conscientious objection among health professionals to participation in abortion, because that right already exisits in the Constitution.

O: This Bill prevents consultation with partners and families on the decision to have an abortion

A: The Bill does not force women to consult their partners and families. The absence of a duty to consult is required to protect women and children who suffer violent abuse, rape and incest. In healthy relationships, there would be consultation. But the Bill is not dealing with an ideal world; it is dealing with the reality in which women's lives could be a risk if forced to consult.

O: This Bill could lead to women undergoing abortions against their will

A: Abortion will only be carried out on a woman who requests one and if the doctor is satisfied that the pregnancy would endanger the physical or mental health of the woman, or her economic and social well-being, or if there is a substantial risk that the foetus would suffer a severe physical or mental abnormality, or if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.

Key Lines on the Bill

It will take women having abortions out of back-street abortion clinics and into safe hospitals.

It will save the lives of hundreds of women a year who would otherwise die from illegal abortions.

It will safely regulate a practice which would otherwise continue unsafely regardless of the law.

It will ensure all women have equal access to safe abortions, regardless of race, class, age or geographical location - currently, mostly only white women have access to safe, legal abortions.

It will guarantee the constitutional right of women to make choices about their reproductive health.

It is one of the manifesto pledges on which the ANC was elected to Government.

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