Angella Johnson
BABIES who survive abortion attempts should be left to die even as they gasp for breath, according to new guidelines for the termination of pregnancy laid out by the Department of Health, and sent to all major hospitals last week.
Medical practitioners across the country have been told that in cases where gestation is in advance of 12 weeks, “if an infant is born who gasps for breath, it is advised that the foetus does not receive any resuscitation measures”.
But some doctors and nurses have expressed horror at the news that they are being expected to do nothing to save a child who is struggling to live.
“It is inhuman and against all my principles,” said a woman doctor in KwaZulu-Natal, who did not want to be named.
She said that under certain circumstances the new abortion Act allowed for terminations up to nine months if there is a danger to the mother’s life or in the case of malformation. “No way will I stand by and do nothing to resuscitate a child. It is impossible and we should not be put in such a position.”
The release of the document comes just weeks after abortion on request for pregnancies up to 12 weeks formally came into play, following last year’s legislation.
Health workers have already warned that up to 50% of their members across the country are refusing to take part, while hospitals that are offering the service have been hampered by a lack of staff, training and equipment.
Other points of concern raised by the document are repeated references to the use of drugs to initiate abortions, self- administered by the mother in her home. Yet medical experts point out that incomplete abortions at home carry the risk of severe pain, bleeding and even death.
“This is the ultimate in back street abortions, and the women who will `benefit’ from this advice are mainly your rural black women and children. What if some woman starts bleeding and is unable to get to a clinic or hospital quickly enough?” said the female doctor.
She said that this procedure will force pro-life doctors to take part in terminations as they will have to act to save the life of any woman who is haemorrhaging as a result of this kind of do-it-yourself abortion.
Another section of the guidelines allows for counselling when the unborn child is judged to be less than 12 weeks old to be done by any health care provider – even if they do not have special training.
Some health workers argue that the panel of expert advisers who sat on a special committee that drew up the proposals are putting doctors and nurses in a position of harming rather than helping their patients. They are demanding a rethink in the guidelines.
The row is likely to intensify resistance by health workers to offering abortion services.
Professor Ronald Green-Thompson, KwaZulu- Natal’s health secretary, says: “This document is not the Act per se and is certainly not cast in stone, [these are] guidelines. People at institutions are welcome to query any areas of concern.”
He said that regarding “do-it-yourself abortions at home, these guidelines have now been altered and will be circulated shortly”.