Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
reproductive rightslatest news & developments
Oblivious: The report found that mistreatment has become so normalised that two-thirds of those abused did
not recognise their treatment as abuse. Photo: DC Studio

Shocking toll of maternity ward abuse

Survivors speak out as a landmark birthing survey reveals the scale of obstetric violence, with lasting physical and psychological consequences

Why are so many newborns and foetuses being abandoned in landfills and velds in SA? We asked leading forensic pathologist Shakeera Holland what her team found. (Nicole Ludolph)

Why so many newborns and foetuses are abandoned in landfills and the veld

Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand have gathered data from the Diepkloof Forensic Pathology Service in Soweto to better understand why so many women turn to…

US President Donald Trump. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

‘First They Came’: Global rise of authoritarianism is everyone’s fight for rights

If we do not speak out against the erosion of rights by authoritarian leaders, anti-rights movements will be emboldened everywhere

Workplace challenges and hormone therapy options for navigating menopause

Hormone replacement therapy got a bad rap but, with good medical advice, it can have benefits beyond dealing with menopause’s unpleasant symptoms

BLOEMFONTEIN, SOUTH AFRICA  MARCH 11: (SOUTH AFRICA OUT) A newborn baby at the Kangaroo Mother Care Centre at Pelonomi Hospital on March 11, 2014 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The Kangaroo Mother Care Centre helps women who deliver premature babies across the Free State province to take care of their babies until they are fully developed. Kangaroo care is a technique practiced on premature babies, wherein the infant is held, skin-to-skin, with an adult. The concept was initially developed to care for premature babies in areas where incubators are either unavailable or unreliable. (Photo by Conrad Bornman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Gender commission report highlights ‘critical deficiencies’ in Eastern Cape maternity, neonatal facilities

Failures in infrastructure, maintenance and governance are contributing to maternal and neonatal deaths in the province

Could it be that these campaigners don’t care about women’s well-being and only want to control their bodies by reducing their reproductive health options so they give birth at whatever cost to their health?

‘Pro-family’ campaigners ignore pregnant women dying during Covid lockdowns

Conservative groups are fighting efforts to expand African women’s access to healthcare. Do they care about women all the time, or only when they’re procreating?

Declines in fertility rates are consistent across all Arab countries regardless of wealth. (Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters)

The Arab world’s silent reproductive revolution

Changing household structures, economic growth and contraceptives prompt dramatic drop in fertility rate, study finds

(John McCann/M&G)

Want your eggs black or white?

The fertility industry and technology are raising difficult questions about race

Many people still don’t know their rights under the law and when they can get an abortion. (AFP)

How readers like you are helping flip the script on illegal abortion providers.

We teamed up with readers and translators to create some of the first graphics ever on abortion in all South Africa’s official languages.

As a whole, Africa had the warmest August since at least 1910, with temperatures 1.4°C hotter than the long-term average.
Video

Are strong-armed tactics by Big Pharma behind the country’s birth control shortage?

An international drug maker may have intentionally muscled out local competition to win the bulk of a national birth control tender.

Police are seen at a new Pro-Choice mural by a graffiti artist collective called ‘Subset’ ahead of a 25th May referendum on abortion law

Irish citizens prepare to vote on abortion laws

Irish health minister Simon Harris says he has faith that Irish citizens will pass the referendum

Reproductive medicine specialist Dr Lawrence Gobetz says unnecessary procedures may compromise your chances of falling pregnant.

Should government health schemes pay for infertility treatment?

"Women are blamed for infertility when, in fact, as we know from research, it is quite often on the man’s side.”

The new guide includes sections on data

Abortion in South Africa: A reporting guide for journalists

Bhekisisa’s new manual provides handy information on abortion data in South Africa, how procedures work and what the law says.

Bhekisisa’s latest reporting guide is based on input from more than a dozen journalists from leading radio, print and television outlets.

Abortion in South Africa: A reporting guide for journalists

Bhekisisa’s new manual provides handy information on abortion data in South Africa, how procedures work and what the law says.

A rare black rhino.

Download our easy-to-use safe abortion graphics in 11 languages for free

Abortion has been legal for more than 20 years in SA but many people still don’t know when or where they can get safe terminations. These can help.

Survé told the commission that this was the fault of media competitors who sabotaged the listing of Sagarmatha Technologies and “blatantly put negative propaganda in the public space”. (Lerato Maduna/Gallo)
Video

13 things that will change the way you look at abortion

Everyone’s got an opinion on it but can we say the same about the facts?

The Sayana Press allows women to inject themselves with the hormonal contraception Depo-Provera

Why taking back the power starts with you and your vagina

Want to advocate for your uterus? Here are six ways you can do it.

Guess who: Can you name this birth control? Only 40% of women can, shows a recent household study. (PATH)

Birth control: Six things you should ask your doctor

What’s left unspoken: If you expect your healthcare provider to lay out your birth control options, you may be in for a long wait

No fetus scan, no abortion. Really?

A draft bill is likely to virtually remove women’s access to safe abortions.

‘I could have died’: Buhle Bhengu was duped into having an illegal abortion.

‘It didn’t take long for [the fetus] to come out. There was a human-like form.’

Left with little choice, many women turn to illegal abortionists to terminate their pregnancies.