However pro-choice advocates argue that the decision to continue or terminate a pregnancy has profound economic, personal and social consequences for women. The right to choose, they say, is a fundamental one for women. Before the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act was passed, about 2,000 legal abortions were carried out each year in South Africa, while another 5,000 women travelled overseas to have their abortions done. The majority of women, usually black, who were denied the option of legally terminating their pregnancies resorted to back- street abortions. Infections are common, can lead to permanent damage and may prevent a woman from having children in future.
Severe infections can lead to death.
During the first year of the Act's passage, more than 26,000 abortions were carried out legally in the country, nearly 50 percent of them in Gauteng, the province that includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria. The Act allows termination of pregnancy on request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Albertyn says by choosing whether to continue with her pregnancy or not, a woman is exercising a constitutional right to freedom and security of her person and control of her body. This dignifies women and accords them respect as moral and autonomous beings. But legalising abortions is not going to stop illegal abortions,'' counters Father Hyacinth Ewn of the Catholic Church, who says his church will give moral support to the coalition.