- Every year, hundreds of newborns and foetuses are found dumped in the open veld, dumps and public toilets.
- Abandonment is often because of a lack of options. When mothers feel desperate, they may choose to dispose of their newborns.
- While it’s difficult to track exact numbers, some experts estimate that abandoned babies and foetuses make up 2% of the 70 000 unnatural deaths recorded in South Africa annually.
- Autopsies reveal that most foetuses found abandoned are not developed enough to survive outside the womb.
- Despite our liberal abortion laws, many things make it hard to get a safe abortion, like long waiting lists, lots of admin, understaffed state clinics and stigma.
- Some fall prey to unethical practitioners offering fake pills and unreliable procedures that put their health and their lives at risk.
- Reproductive health experts say there should be more campaigns that tell people about contraception and also safe abortions. Training healthcare workers to provide non-judgmental care could help reduce unintended pregnancies.
In today’s newsletter, our Health Beat team delves into the barriers to abortion in our country. Sign up for our newsletter today.
Anna-Maria van Niekerk is Bhekisisa’s news editor. She joined the centre after six years as the managing editor of the investigative television show, Carte Blanche. Anna-Maria has an extensive career in in-depth health and human rights reporting and has been named both the Vodacom Journalist (2002) and Discovery Health Journalist of the Year (2010) for exposés on the selling of human body parts for muti in Limpopo and the devastating consequences of HIV denialism.
Mia Malan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa. She has worked in newsrooms in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington, DC, winning more than 30 awards for her radio, print and television work.
Jessica Pitchford is Bhekisisa's TV and multimedia editor. She's been a journalist since the early nineties and has reported on some pivotal events in South Africa’s political history, such as the country’s transition to democracy and the work of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
