A critical ethical assessment of the South African Termination of Pregnancy Bill

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Perhaps one of the most talked about subjects worldwide and in South Africa these days isthe abortion issue. A growing number of women admit to having had one. Basically there aretwo opposing views and values on the question of abortion. We normally hear peoplereferring to the 'abortion issue'; my understanding of this is that there is a dialogue going onat the moment concerning abortion. In South Africa before the current Choice ofTermination of Pregnancy (TOP) Bill, some activists' women and the ever-growing'feminists' movements were lobbying and demanding that abortion be decriminalised.As we may all be aware, up until 1 February 1997, abortion or termination of pregnancy(TOP) in South Africa was conceivable under very restrictive atmosphere. Before theintroduction of the current Termination of Pregnancy Bill, a majority of women had noaccess to abortion services in the country, hence the growing number of back-street job. Byimplication this means that most women given the choice, would not seek the experience ofabortion, but if they do, it would be available to the in safe, legal, accessible and affordableservice. Not only does the Act conceal that terminating pregnancy that occurred throughcriminal acts such as rape and incest is justifiable. The current liberal Termination ofPregnancy Bill also gives pregnant women the 'right' or 'freedom' to abort whenever and forwhatever reason they deem fit.Part of the ethical dilemma of the abortion issue is that there are those who holds a view thatalways where there is a conflict of rights and interests, the foetus' rights must give way to, orthat the foetus' rights must be overridden by those of a pregnant women. Pro-choiceadvocates maintain that a woman's choice to terminate her pregnancy is her own businessand hers alone, in other words, this for them is a private decision.Well, I argue that this is not necessarily the case, ethically, the father of the unborn childshould also be considered in such a decision. Given that virtually every abortion has risks,the parents of the aborting woman and to some extent the society at large are involved.Therefore, to solely talk of the 'mother's right to choose' is basically suggest that morality isrelative and such relativism is conceived from the idea of privatisation of abortion and lifein general.In the following pages I will look at the arguments in support of abortion and against it, andthese are criticised. Also discussed are the ethical implications of the new South AfricanTermination of Pregnancy Act. Broadly speaking, technology advancement has made itpossible to detect the unborn baby's physical condition (sometimes even its mental state)while the mother is still pregnant. The ethical implications of this medical intervention areused to decide whether the unborn child should live or die. Given this, if the purpose of theseprenatal diagnosis were for the destruction of the unborn, therefore, advocates of themovements such as 'the right to life', and 'pro-lifers' would argue that because ofparticularly twisted purpose, prenatal diagnosis must be abolished.Furthermore, I will acknowledge that the Termination of Pregnancy Bill as we have it, isappraised by feminists movements and others who are not necessarily feminists as allowingincreased and unrestricted access to 'free' and 'safe' abortion in the government hospitalsand clinics. However, I argue that this was rather prematurely introduced. I argue that anumber of pregnant women claiming to be poor still present themselves to private doctorsand private clinics for abortion and they pay anything between R 600- 800 or moredepending where these services are provided.On the other hand, for one reason or another, other women still choose to terminate theirpregnancies back street way although the risks are high in such servicing stations. In the lightof these facts, one wonders whether it is appropriate to legislate for the termination ofpregnancy or would it have been a worthwhile decision to delay the legislation of abortionfor a while and thoroughly make a research and relevant preparation for it. I also argue thatideology plays an important part in the abortion debates.Besides, the abortion debate is also characterised by indoctrination, the purpose of which isto leave other confused. In both cases facts are misrepresented or false statements are made,and this for me is ethically unacceptable. I will also comment on the importance oflinguistics, that is, the proper understanding of normal English terms and what I refer to as'deceptive language' used by campaigners.Inthe last part of this thesis, I will outline some basic approaches to ethics and which belongto what is referred to as postmodernism. The Postmodern worldview deconstructs metanarratives so that no one particular belief is more believable than another. Thisworldview bring with it ethical relativism, which is a theory which holds that morality isrelative to the individual. Three movements are given as an example of this move towardethical relativism, they are:(a) Emotivism,(b) Subjectivism, and(c) SituationalismWhile I will argue that rape and incest are evil acts, and support abortion in cases involvingsuch acts, however, I also believe that abortion is not the answer to the problem of rape andincest.I will propose a number of recommendations the South African government should havemade before legislating for abortion. For instance, by creating separate abortion servicefacilities even in the hospital premises, with properly trained staff; so that people who cameto seek advice for abortion are not intimidated by those who go to full terms with theirpregnancy. Included in this thesis is a case study to demonstrate the complexity of theabortion issue to everyone involved. Some psychological and emotional symptomsfollowing abortion will be outlined and this according to women who do share their abortionstory is a reality they have to live with every day of their lives.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University