Activists demand safe abortions at Constitutional Hill march

Health activists, feminist and civil society groups at the weekend marched to the Constitutional Hill, replacing illegal abortion posters with safe ones.

But that came a little too late for Gaopalelwe Phalaetsile who used information from those flyers to get her backdoor abortion years ago.

Today she is an activist and founder of an organisation called Abortion Support South Africa.

Access to safe abortions protected by law

She said: “I became an activist because I believed it is unconstitutional that women don’t have access to safe abortions when that right is protected by law.”

Aged 19 and in her first year at the University of Witwatersrand, she was raped by her boyfriend.

ALSO READ: Abandoned baby: Pro bono operation restores her lost hearing

“Being in my first year, I did not want to keep the baby. A friend told me to go to a clinic. However, they told me about a waiting list meaning I would have to go back in a few months. I could not wait so I left,” she said.

Just outside the clinic she found a flyer of a clinic in Hillbrow.

“It said pain-free abortion and I made the call,” said Phalaetsile. On arrival she found it was not a clinic, but a house.

Back-door abortion story

She was attended to by “two nurses” who wore no gloves and did not sterilise equipment.

They were engaged in a conversation and paid no mind to her, she claimed.

ALSO READ: Teenage pregnancy getting out of hand in SA

She said the room had a bucket of blood just next to the bed and other women were screaming from the other rooms.

While wide awake, they used a makeshift vacuum aspirator on her. “I felt like they were drilling and sucking my stomach outside of my body. I had an infection but eventually it cleared,” she said.

The department of women, children and people with disabilities said it was intent on advocacy and maintaining the rights of women.

Advocacy and maintaining women’s rights

It coordinates with other departments and although it does not have facilities it has Thusong Centre, which is a one-stop shop for government services including psycho support services.

Spokesperson Cassius Selela said: “Illegal abortion contributes to maternal mortality, especially because some women who seek termination services at these clinics present themselves late after things go wrong.”

ALSO READ: KZN newborn found dead in bin bag: What to do if you can’t keep your baby

He said backstreet clinics were a cause for concern because they posed a threat to life.

“Though there are no statistics on illegal abortion, most of these are a result of unplanned pregnancies which gave pregnant women fear of stigma,” he said.

The department of health has designated health facilities offering safe and free termination of pregnancy.

Govt need to regulate advertising unsafe abortions

Section27’s Khanyisa Mapipa said government needed to regulate advertising of unsafe abortions.

“At least nine million women worldwide face complications as a result of unsafe abortions, including life-long injuries, severe disability, heavy bleeding, damage to internal organs or loss of the ability to fall pregnant; 22 800 of these women die,” she said.

ALSO READ: Polish lawmakers debate bills to ease near-total abortion ban

At least 50% of women seeking abortions in South Africa approach illegal abortion providers.

“Section27 assists pregnant people with access to health and abortion services. We have assisted pregnant people to access services where they have been denied these services,” said Mapipa.