Review the Abortion Bill

Cheryllyn Dudley MP

The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) reiterates its call for a review of the Abortion Bill. Yesterday, the Amendment to the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act was passed in Parliament. But the ACDP stands by its opinion that it should have been scrapped.

The ACDP objected to the amendment saying “it failed to address the concerns raised by health professionals and the public.”

“The ACDP could not vote for this problematic Amendment Bill before. Since nothing has changed we cannot vote for it now,” said Cheryllyn Dudley “We stand by our opinion that it should have been scrapped and again call for a review of the Principal Act.”

A declaration made by ACDP’s Cheryllyn Dudley (MP) caused a furore in the National Assembly yesterday.

“ANC members interrupted almost every sentence of my declaration. ANC members also danced and sang as they celebrated legal abortion.” said Cheryllyn Dudley.

The Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa has publically criticised the bill.

“Denosa is concerned that if Government continues to force nurses who have a conscientious objection to participate in abortions, nurses will refuse to comply or leave the public sector.” said Cheryllyn Dudley.

Currently, 31 percent of nursing posts around the country can’t be filled.

The amendment to the CTOP bill increases health facilities, providing abortion. But no additional nurses or doctors have been provided to do the job. This means that nurses’ workload will drastically increase.

Approximately 170 voted for the Bill.

20 objected.

And 12 abstained.

Earlier this week, the ACDP rejected the use of misoprostal in “legal abortions”. This followed the death of a woman earlier this year after apparently taking the drug during a “legal abortion”. This is the second such death related to a ‘legal abortion’ in the Western Cape.
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“The public is unaware of the number of women dying from abortions. It appears that abortion-related deaths of mothers are not being recorded. And many “legally” aborted babies are recorded as miscarriages.” said Cheryllyn Dudley, ACDP MP and spokesperson on health matters.

The ACDP has called on health authorities to release information regarding maternal deaths caused by legal abortions.

The government said there’d be no investigation into the deaths.