MPs clash over abortion

2004-11-12 12:39

Cape Town - The ruling African National Congress and opposition African Christian Democratic Party were at odds again on Friday over the emotive issue of abortion, with the two parties offering apparently contradictory claims in support of their positions on the subject.

Speaking in the National Assembly, ACDP MP Cheryllyn Dudley - who during a declaration on the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill, passed by the House on Thursday, accused the ANC of being pro-abortion - said most South African women believed abortion was wrong.

Citing a Human Sciences Research Council survey, she told MPs "70% (of South African women) believe aborting babies because you can't afford them is always wrong".

"In fact, the number rises to 74% for black South Africans," Dudley said.

Responding in the House, deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge said the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, passed in 1996, was "supported by a large majority of South Africans".

"When we passed the law... there was a very positive response by a large majority of (South African) women, who were disadvantaged and discriminated against in that they were not given the same rights that had been given for many, many years to white women in this country."

"Clearly the ANC would not like to see a situation where children are aborted. But what we are saying is there are circumstances, there are conditions under which women need to make an informed choice.

"This is what this law is about; it gives them the information, it gives them the power, and lets them decide what happens to their bodies," she said.

- SAPA