- Title
- Assessing the impact of the expanded Global Gag Rule in South Africa
- Creator
- du Plessis, Ulandi
- Creator
- Sofika, Dumisa
- Creator
- Macleod, Catriona I
- Creator
- Mthethwa, Thobile
- Subject
- To be catalogued
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- text
- Type
- report
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434306
- Identifier
- vital:73047
- Identifier
- ISBN Report
- Identifier
- https://www.ru.ac.za/media/rhodesuniversity/content/criticalstudiesinsexualitiesandreproduction/documents/IWHC_Report.pdf
- Description
- South Africa has one of the most progressive abortion laws in the world and as the constitution states, South Africans also have “the right to make deci-sions concerning reproduction”(Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996). Alongside being a free service, this should seemingly translate into accessible country-wide abortion services. However, less than one in ten public clinics actually perform abortions (Amnesty International, 2017). One of the main reasons for this has been the failure, on the part of the Depart-ment of Health, to regulate conscientious objection, ie the right of a healthcare worker to refuse to provide a service against which they are mor-ally opposed. Another reason is a lack of resources, in terms of both health professionals and finances, which manifest particularly in rural areas. As a result, women who are considering abortion either turn to illegal providers whose advertisements are scattered around towns, or towards private ser-vice providers such as Marie Stopes. Both options are usually costly, espe-cially to poor women. And illegal backstreet abortions often result in sepsis and infection. Recent data on abortion services in South Africa indicate that between 2016 and 2017, 20% of all abortions performed on women aged between 15-44 years were provided by the public health sector, while 26% and 54% of abortions were performed by illegal providers and the private health sector respectively (Lince-Deroche et al., 2018).
- Format
- 36 pages
- Format
- Publisher
- International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC)
- Language
- English
- Relation
- du Plessis, U., Sofika, D., Macleod, C. and Mthethwa, T., 2019. Assessing the impact of the expanded Global Gag Rule in South Africa. Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction, Rhodes University and International Women’s Health Coalition
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) Statement (https://www.mhtf.org/organization/international-womens-health-coalition/)
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Gender Action Forum (GENACT)
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Macleod, Catriona Ida (Distinguished Professor)
SDG 05. Gender Equality
RU Department of Psychology
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SDG 03. Good Health and Well-Being
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