Eleanor Poulter (Letters, April 5) says it seems I think the authorities “should let the young woman who aborted her baby alone”. Things are often not what they seem. It is perfectly possible to be anti-abortion yet allow the other woman the right to choose an early, safe, legal abortion. I am not opposed to all abortions and all abortions are not murder. I think we have an intelligent law in the Termination of Pregnancy Act. What strikes one from the news report about this 19-year-old girl is how very alone she was, living in a community that noticed her pregnancy but did not support her, probably ignorant about safe sex practice or that she had a legal right to an early abortion.
We have far too few facts to judge what the authorities should do in this case. Did she really want the pregnancy but her partner did not? Was she impregnated by a boyfriend, her brother, her father? Was she raped? Is she HIV-positive? Did she discover that the father is HIV- positive? We simply do not know the depth of desperation that led her to commit an appalling act that could have terminated her own life as well as her pregnancy. I wonder what this experience has taught her and would like to know how she is coping.
I will not comment on the rest of Poulter’s bitterly sarcastic diatribe, other than to agree that yes, in South Africa life is cheap, more so in some places than others. Possibly this was a reason not to want to bring an unwanted pregnancy to term. Those of us who enjoy a comparatively secure lifestyle can perhaps spare a little compassion for others who live in poverty and chaos. Dot Cleminshaw, Newlands