Assessing the impact of the expanded Global Gag Rule in South Africa

du Plessis, Ulandi; Sofika, Dumisa; Macleod, Catriona I; Mthethwa, Thobile

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: pdf
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/)

Hits: 287
Visitors: 289
Downloads: 6

Collections

Gender Action Forum (GENACT)

du Plessis, Ulandi

RU Books and Book Chapters

Macleod, Catriona Ida (Distinguished Professor)

SDG 05. Gender Equality

RU Department of Psychology

RU DST/NRF SARChI for Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproductions Research (CSSR) Programme

SDG 03. Good Health and Well-Being

		Thumbnail	File	Description	Size	Format
View Details Download			SOURCE1	Assessing the impact of the expanded Global Gag Rule in South Africa.pdf	816 KB	Adobe Acrobat PDF	View Details Download