South African law under the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act (CTOPA) provides that women can obtain abortions for free at public health facilities. Science corroborates that abortions done by trained healthcare providers in a controlled environment is safe and does not compromise a woman’s quality of life beyond the procedure. Despite this fact, unsafe abortion is rife particularly for marginalised communities of townships and rural areas. Walking anywhere in the streets of Gauteng young girls and women are continuously confronted by flyers that claim “pain free” abortion.
These pieces of paper have become such a naturalised part of walls and poles that they are no longer jarring. There seems to be no emergency to remove them from public spaces even though they are deliberately misleading and those performing the procedures are endangering women’s lives every day. Poor access to services and shortage of public health facilities performing abortion is the contributing factor to women going to people who are not designated to offer this service.
According to a list of designated health facilities recently released by the Gauteng Department of Health, Hillbrow Community Health Clinic (CHC) does not offer abortion services. If one considers the high population density of Hillbrow and surrounding area and the number of sex workers who may need these service there is a crisis. This list of designated providers further reveals that only five facilities in all of Gauteng provide the abortion service up to 20 weeks as provided by the law. This means women seek out abortion from unsafe, unqualified providers who are validated by these flyers being everywhere.
On the 29 August 2019 and Reproductive Health For Your Information #SRHFYI campaign is taking to the streets of Johannesburg, Park Station to rid a block of these flyers. This is a stance against unsafe abortion and calling on the Gauteng Department of Health to attend the Hillbrow CHC crisis. As Women’s month draws to a close this is a reminder that no woman should have to die for making a choice that legal and is constitutional right. Abortion is health care and therefore a basic human right.
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