Plea to stigmatise abortions

WITH the increase in illegal abortions, Marie Stopes has asked the public sector to workwith the private sector to destigmatise abortions.

During a conference held at the Fountains Hotel, Nomsa Mafrika, 30, shared her experiences of having two illegal abortions and urged the government to advertise safe abortions in order to save lives.

Originally from rural Eastern Cape, Mafrika said she had her first abortion in 2010 after not wanting to disappoint her mother. She responded to a newspaper abortion advertisement.

“A guy in his 20s asked me to lie down and gave me three pills to take. He sent me home and told me to drink the pills with tea.” Mafrika said she experienced excruciating pain and was drenched in blood after taking the pills.

Mafrika gave birth to her second child in 2014 and a while later she found out she was pregnant again, but decided she couldn’t afford to keep it. Her second abortion was also traumatic after taking more pills.

Mafrika pleaded with the audience to promote safe abortions as there were many other people like her.

Marjike Alblas, a doctor who specialises in second trimester abortions, said family planning was not 100 percent and families needed to choose suitable family planning.

She added the best abortion treatment was pre-abortion counselling to help patients understand their decisions. – Leletu Gxuluwe