Legislation responsible for 31% increase in abortions, teen pregnancies

Studies support abstinence education

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi released the statistics — a total of 77 771 legal abortions were performed in South Africa in 2011, a 31 per cent increase since 2010!

In 2010, the Health Department said, 59 447 abortions were carried out! Although the new statistics illustrate alarming trends in abortion among South Africans and the youth, I would like to remind the Department of Health that it was the legalisation of abortion that gave the youth this free reign in the first place. It is encouraging a culture of death.

In legalising abortion the door was opened for even more illegal abortions to take place, especially with late term abortions. So, illegal abortions have become even more rampant in South Africa. The increase in demand, a consequence of legalisation of abortion, is a result of pregnant teenagers using termination of pregnancy as a means of contraception. This has caused overflowing abortion clinics. At Dora Nginza Hospital, in Port Elizabeth, between 16 and 20 young women are being seen daily, and many women that are turned away are resorting to backstreet abortions, which results in an increase in maternal deaths.

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Stats SA recorded 160 754 teen pregnancies between July 2008 and July 2010. Child pregnancies in primary schools are also more frequent. Escalating teen pregnancies are a result of government distribution of condoms, the government grant, an increase in pornography, and sex education instead of abstinence education. While some girls are raped or enticed into having sex by “sugar daddies” – with promises of money or gifts – others use abortion as a means of contraception because they don’t want to use condoms or other forms of birth control. In the same way, the British Government’s policies of promoting “safe sex,” contraceptives and “free” abortion have caused “repeat abortions”.

The majority of American teenagers now abstain from sex before marriage – a behaviour gaining in popularity over the past two decades — according to the 2011 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey. What are the reasons? While the Obama administration has stripped funding for abstinence education in favor of the strategies of Planned Parenthood, the latest survey from the National Center for Health Statistics shows that the children raised during prior administrations are ever-more likely to remain virgins into adulthood.

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee released a report entitled ‘A Better Approach to Teenage .Pregnancy Prevention: Sexual Risk Avoidance’. The report examined the theory and the evidence behind both Sexual Risk Avoidance Abstinence Education and Comprehensive Sex Education, and concluded that abstinence education is the superior approach when it comes to the different approaches for teaching sex education to teenagers.

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Another report, the Congressional Report: ‘Abstinence Education is Best Sex-Ed Approach’, also recommends that abstinence education is a better approach, because it is built on sound theory and empirical evidence. The report effectively sets the record straight by clarifying the two sex education approaches and states that almost 75 per cent  of 15-17 year olds have never had sex.

An abstract from “The Effect of Abortion Legalisation on Sexual Behavior: Evidence from Sexually Transmitted Diseases” by Jonathan Klick and Thomas Stratmann, states that: “Unwanted pregnancy represents a major cost of sexual activity. When abortion was legalized in a number of states (in America) in 1969 and 1970 (and nationally in 1973), this cost was reduced”. So we see here that promiscuity costs – the consequence, or cost, is pregnancy / illegal abortion. But when abortion was legalised the cost was reduced in that it was easier to just get rid of the pregnancy (abort it). They also stated that “We predict that abortion legalisation generated incentives leading to an increase in sexual activity, accompanied by an increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Using Centers for Disease Control data on the incidence of gonorrhea and syphilis by state, we test the hypothesis that abortion legalisation led to an increase in sexually transmitted diseases”.

In South Africa, amongst the Zulu people of Kwa Zulu Natal, in June of this year, about 200 maidens showered their monarch, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, with praises for reviving virginity testing and “sticking to it even when it was criticised”, reports Sowetan Live.

Nunu Ngcobo, a well-known virginity inspector, said “not a single child was forced to participate. Frankly, they are the ones who encourage us to do it”. Those who passed the inspection were later awarded certificates for their purity.

21-year-old virgin, Mbali Ngcobo said, ”We abstain from sex to protect ourselves from diseases, unwanted and unplanned pregnancies.” “It helps teach us to respect ourselves, our bodies and to love ourselves by remaining pure” – was another comment. The organisation, “Izintombi Zemvelo”, established in 2009, had noted that many girls as young as 12 were falling pregnant. After educating girls and encouraging them to live a pure lifestyle as virgins, (abstinence education as opposed to sex education) they have seen a significant drop in child pregnancy. Thandiwe Luthuli, chairwoman of the organisation, said that before they established the organisation in 2009, girls as young as 12 were falling pregnant “like it was in fashion”.

ANC councilor Nondumiso Ndlovu said that virginity / purity is part of their culture, and it needs to be preserved otherwise they will continue seeing illegal abortions and unplanned pregnancies, straining government child support grants,”

In summary: South Africa is still promoting condoms as a primary prevention of reducing pregnancy and preventing HIV/AIDS and this encourages promiscuity. Instead the Government should be warning the young people that sexual promiscuity carries much more agility in terms of HIV/AIDS, unwanted pregnancies, abortion and broken relationships. Abstinence offers the best defence against unwanted pregnancies and STD’s. Both teen pregnancies and illegal abortions have increased since abortion was legalised, as teens are using abortion as a form of contraception.

On behalf of pro-lifers of South Africa I therefore call on the Government to review the law on abortion, taking cognizance of the reality that it is the legalisation of abortion that has laid the foundation for the crisis South Africa is now facing with low morals and a huge increase in both legal and illegal abortions.

• Dianne Steven is a registered nurse and midwife, and has a Bachelors degree in Ministry. She has been involved in missions, prison work, ministering to gangsters and drug addicts, and been involved in pro-life work, for the last 20 years.