Johannesburg Water is appealing to communities to refrain from disposing of stillborn babies or foetuses into its sewer network system, saying when they are found by employees, it causes ‘irreparable emotional damage’.
This comes after photos of three foetuses that were found by a Johannesburg Water employee in Devland in the south of the city, made their way to social media.
The entity’s spokesperson, Isaac Dhludhlu, revealed that the foetuses were found at the Goudkoppies Treatment Plant.
“We do come across these types of incidents and we report them to the South African Police Services as per the company Occupational Health and Safety standard operational procedure,” Dhludhlu told Randburg Sun.
In this case, the entity will investigate how the photos made their way to social media and will ‘deal with it once the investigation has been completed’.
Dhludhlu labeled this kind of disposal as unacceptable and inhuman.
READ: MUST READ: Three foetuses found by Joburg Water employees
Legal and illegal abortion
Women legally have the right to access abortion in South Africa up to the 20th week of pregnancy, according to the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act.
According to Marie Stopes, the country’s largest non-profit provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare services, if a woman is up to 12 weeks pregnant an abortion can be performed by a registered nurse or midwife.
After 12 weeks, an abortion must be performed by a trained medical doctor, and after 20 weeks, women are only able to have an abortion if the pregnancy would endanger the woman’s life, or if the continued pregnancy would result in a severely malformed foetus.
But unsafe abortions still occur and incidents like these often make headlines. Walking the streets of Joburg, flyers are stuck to street poles advertising ‘pain-free’ abortion that can be done in under an hour.
“Backstreet methods may lead to serious complications, infections causing prolonged absence from work, permanent infertility and, in the most heart-breaking cases, even death,” the organisation said.
Government hospitals, designated private doctors and gynaecologists and non-profit providers such as the Marie Stopes network of centres nationwide do offer safe and legal termination of pregnancies.
