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===Laws & Social Stigmas=== | ===Laws & Social Stigmas=== | ||
In South Africa, abortion is fully legal | In South Africa, abortion is fully legal with no age restrictions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. For the first twelve weeks, all primary reasons for an abortion are permitted, including to save the life of the woman, to preserve physical health, to preserve mental health, rape or incest, fetal impairment, economic or social reasons or available on request. From the thirteenth to twentieth week of pregnancy, an abortion may be performed under the following circumstances: to save the life of the woman, to preserve physical health, to preserve mental health, rape or incest, fetal impairment and economic or social reasons. After the twentieth week of pregnancy, an abortion may be performed "if two medical practitioners or one medical practitioner and a midwife are of the opinion that the continued pregnancy would endanger the woman’s life, would result in severe malformation of the foetus or would pose a risk of injury to the foetus."<ref>[http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/profiles.htm UN Report: Abortion Law in South Africa]</ref> | ||
To obtain an abortion, the South African government recommends that women seek counseling, but it's not required. If a woman is under 18 years old, she will be advised to consult her parents but she's not legally required to do so. If a woman is married or in a life-partner relationship, she will also be advised to consult her partner, but she's not required to do so. However, if a woman is intellectually-disabled or has been unconscious for a long time, the physicians will need approval from guardians, parents, life partners or spouses.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_South_Africa Abortion in South Africa]</ref> | |||
While the government typically doesn't require parental or spousal consent, it does require consent from physicians. For the abortion to be legal, the woman must first get approval from two independent physicians (not including the physician who will perform the abortion). One of the consulting physicians must have practiced medicine for at least four years. If the abortion is being performed to preserve the woman's mental health, a psychiatrist must be one of the consulting physicians. If the abortion is being performed due to unlawful intercourse, a district surgeon must approve of the abortion. Furthermore, if the abortion is being performed due to rape, incest or intercourse with an intellectually-disabled woman, there will typically need to be a certificate issued by a local magistrate to authorize the abortion on such grounds. | |||
You should be aware that South African health workers are not legally required to assist abortions. If they have any personal, professional or moral objections, they can decide to take no part in an abortion. However, they are required by law to assist in abortions that are performed to save the life of a woman. Furthermore, if you approach a health care worker in order to obtain an abortion, they may decline to offer you services but they are legally required to inform you of your rights and refer you to health care workers/facilities where you can obtain an abortion.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_South_Africa Abortion in South Africa]</ref> | |||
Until 1975, abortion law in South Africa was under Roman-Dutch Common Law, which only permitted abortion if the life of the woman was endangered by | When a legal abortion is performed, cannot be performed by any of the consulting physicians. During the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, a physician or midwife may perform the abortion. After twelve weeks of pregnancy, only a medical practitioner can perform the abortion. The abortion must be performed at a government hospital (or another approved institution) by a physician. The hospital superintendent must approve the abortion. | ||
Until 1975, abortion law in South Africa was under Roman-Dutch Common Law, which only permitted abortion if the life of the woman was endangered by pregnancy. Then, in 1975, The Abortion and Sterilization Act of 1975 was passed, which expanded abortion availability to include women whose mental/physical health was endangered by the pregnancy, women who were victims of rape or incest or were intellectually-disabled (or, as the law called it "idiot or imbecile"), or if the fetus was at risk of being born with a mental/physical defect. The Act required that three physicians approve of the abortion. Since the Act was still fairly restrictive, most women at the time did not seek legal abortions and the majority of abortions (200,000 per year) were performed illegally. | |||
As written in a UN Report, "This legal situation was dramatically altered in 1994 after the transition from the apartheid regime to full democracy and the victory of the African National Congress (ANC) in the first fully democratic elections in South Africa. The ANC had campaigned on a platform of liberalized abortion and, once it came to power, it proceeded to fulfill its campaign pledge on this issue. After receiving the report of the Ad Hoc Select Committee on Abortion and Sterilisation, appointed to review this matter, the Government introduced draft legislation in Parliament to allow abortions to be performed on request during the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy. The proposed legislation provoked a heated debate between pro-choice and pro-life groups, and the latter held numerous rallies to protest suggested changes. Despite polls indicating that the great majority of the population did not support the legislation and considerable opposition among legislators both within and without the ruling ANC party, the legislation (the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act) was enacted in 1996, with almost one quarter of the legislators absent."<ref>[http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/profiles.htm UN Report: Abortion Law in South Africa]</ref> | As written in a UN Report, "This legal situation was dramatically altered in 1994 after the transition from the apartheid regime to full democracy and the victory of the African National Congress (ANC) in the first fully democratic elections in South Africa. The ANC had campaigned on a platform of liberalized abortion and, once it came to power, it proceeded to fulfill its campaign pledge on this issue. After receiving the report of the Ad Hoc Select Committee on Abortion and Sterilisation, appointed to review this matter, the Government introduced draft legislation in Parliament to allow abortions to be performed on request during the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy. The proposed legislation provoked a heated debate between pro-choice and pro-life groups, and the latter held numerous rallies to protest suggested changes. Despite polls indicating that the great majority of the population did not support the legislation and considerable opposition among legislators both within and without the ruling ANC party, the legislation (the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act) was enacted in 1996, with almost one quarter of the legislators absent."<ref>[http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/profiles.htm UN Report: Abortion Law in South Africa]</ref> | ||
The report later states: "The 1996 abortion law is now the most liberal in Africa and, indeed, the world, authorizing the performance of abortions not only during the first trimester of pregnancy on request, but also through the twentieth week of pregnancy on very broad grounds, including socio-economic grounds. Although the preamble to the law stresses that abortion is not considered a form of contraception or population control, it also makes clear that the law is firmly based on a notion of individual human rights."<ref>[http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/profiles.htm UN Report: Abortion Law in South Africa]</ref> | The report later states: "The 1996 abortion law is now the most liberal in Africa and, indeed, the world, authorizing the performance of abortions not only during the first trimester of pregnancy on request, but also through the twentieth week of pregnancy on very broad grounds, including socio-economic grounds. Although the preamble to the law stresses that abortion is not considered a form of contraception or population control, it also makes clear that the law is firmly based on a notion of individual human rights."<ref>[http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/profiles.htm UN Report: Abortion Law in South Africa]</ref> | ||
While the 1996 Abortion Law has been challenged by South African conservatives, it remains in place today. | |||
===What to Get & Where to Get It=== | ===What to Get & Where to Get It=== | ||