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Congress of the People (COPE) is concerned about the increasing numbers of termination of pregnancy operations performed across the country in 2010 and 2011.

According to the Health Minister’s reply to a Congress of the People (COPE) Parliamentary question today; 59 447 women above 18-years terminated pregnancy in 2010 while 77 771 women in the same age bracket went for pregnancy termination in 2011.

The Minister further indicated that 28 207 women whose ages are unknown consulted for termination of pregnancy in 2010 while 58 425 women (also unknown age group) terminated pregnancy in 2011.

COPE is worried that government doesn’t keep records of all
information regarding termination of pregnancy hence their failure to provide the nation with statistics.

COPE clearly sees these increase in termination of pregnancy as a serious cause for concern; something which appears to be foreign to the Health department. The nonexistence of the age group of women who terminated pregnancy in 2010 and 2011, paints an incompetent picture.

We are also extremely worried about the Free State Province, which has the smallest population, yet it has the highest number of termination of pregnancy in 2010 and 2011.

The Minister should strive for establishing the causes of the rising numbers of termination of pregnancy because there is a perception that more women use it as a preventive measure.

Although the law provides for women to utilise the termination of pregnancy option to deal with unwanted pregnancy; COPE believes this huge figures do not necessarily mean all the pregnancies were unwanted.

We urge the Health Minister to look into this urgent matter and give the nation some answers.