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South Africa plans to liberalise abortion law


 The South African parliament will consider a law that permits abortion on demand until the twelfth week of pregnancy, and, thereafter, under certain conditions (rape and incest). Parental or spousal permission would be unnecessary. Doctors who were unwilling to perform abortions would be required to make referrals to avoid 10 years in jail. The Medical Research Council informed parliament that nearly 45,000 unsafe, "backstreet" abortions (84% to Black women) resulted in admission to public hospitals annually, at a cost of $4.5m (R19m) per year. Present law is restrictive, and White women can afford to pay for abortions. Dr. Nkosazana Diamini-Zuma, the Minister of Health, favors the bill; he describes the 425 deaths from septic abortions as the equivalent of a jumbo jet crash in which all the passengers are killed, most of whom are poor with limited access to family planning and with inadequate support systems for unwanted children. Backstreet abortions may number 400,000 per year. Some hospitals have said they will refuse to allow abortions to be performed, and pro-life and religious groups have argued and demonstrated against the law; however, other religious groups have argued for it. The African National Congress will vote for the bill, in spite of opposition from older members, which ensures passage of the bill; the Catholic church intends to contest the law in a constitutional court, which could delay its implementation.
