I am a midwife. Midwives bring life into this world. They are doing great work and I am honoured to know many wonderful compassionate and caring midwives. Midwives provide care across the spectrum of a woman’s reproductive life–from well-woman care, to pap smears and yearly exams, to prenatal care, and the birthing process.
Abortions are a very sensitive issue in South Africa. It is angers people. For many years abortions were illegal and were only done in certain cases. With the change in Government abortions were legalized, as in terms of the new constitution they were deemed a right. Abortion was made legal in South Africa with the implementation of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1996. The Choice of Termination Act stipulated that registered midwives can perform abortions for women and immediately a program was initiated to train midwives around the country to provide abortion services. How disgusting! Prior to the Abortion law, abortion was understood to be a common crime. The law was after the person who performed the abortion not the pregnant woman.
Many religious groupings were against the legalization of abortion and many protest marches took place to the countries parliament. The government however resisted, and the law legalizing abortion was duly promulgated and passed. To add insult to injury midwives were forced against their will and their religious convictions to partake in abortions. South Africa is the only country in the world where midwives are expected to perform abortions. They trained these saviours of life to perform abortions; what a contradiction! Abortion is a gruesome business. From 6 weeks gestation after conception the foetus is clearly human. At 8 weeks, the foetus is 3 cm long and has limbs and facial features.
South Africa hospitals perform two types of abortions, surgical and medical abortions. In surgical abortions the vacuum extraction or dilatation and curettage (D & C) technique is used. The abortionist use sometimes a handheld specially designed syringed or hollow tube connected to an electrical pump to apply suction inside the cervix, removing the unborn foetus in the process, all in pieces. So it is understandable why nurses and doctors are revolting. Doctors and nurses see the pieces of the dismembered foetus as they come out. Worse of all, the nurses must scrap all the pieces together of the dismembered foetus to prevent infection and to make sure nothing is left behind. As a midwife for 25 yrs I am appalled that any health professional would want to be part of this "campaign of abortion."
In medical abortions the patient is given pills orally or vaginally to induce labour. Sometimes when the foetus is over 20 weeks, the baby is still alive and lives for a few hours. Nurses have to stand and watch a baby die and do nothing while the pregnant woman goes back to her normal life of promiscuity. No wonder so many of us want nothing to do with abortions. The ANC government did not take into account the feeling of the medical profession when they debated on this law.
Resultant from this particular law many midwives left the country; nurses found this law very contrary to their training and belief; anathema. Were the fact of the matter that a woman had a miscarriage or self induced abortion this would have been a different matter; to force nurses to abort women is enough to blow even the broadest of minds. There of course were numerous arguments in defense of the abortion act; the foremost being that it would help reduces maternal deaths. As it turned out it was the exact opposite, but rather an increase in the maternal death rate, coupled with severe trauma and depression. In a report published in the Pretoria News in 2004 it was estimated that 500 women died each year from legal abortions in South Africa compare with just 32 backstreet abortions. The Pretoria News surveyed 18 hospitals and each one admitted that pregnant women had died from legal abortions.
The law in question should definitely be revised since it is subject to abuse, being used as a contraceptive when it is in fact the ending of an innocent life. I don’t think we will have a change in the abortion law unless we have a change in government. The constitutional court has eight members and they are all pro-choice, all appointed by the present government.
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