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

By Bhekisisa Team
May 19, 2025

They were wrapped in plastic or foil or a piece of clothing, tucked inside a backpack or pulled from a burnt pile of rubbish. Those were some of the ways the remains of newborns and foetuses were found before being taken to the Diepkloof Forensic Pathology Service in Soweto.

Although discoveries like these rarely make the news, they are a regular occurrence. The bodies are found in open veld, public toilets and landfills across South Africa.

To help figure out why, researchers from Wits University gathered data about the remains that landed up at the Diepkloof facility from 2020 to 2021 and in 2023. They hope by tracking where the bodies were found and the causes of death, they will better understand why so many women take desperate measures instead of seeking legal and safe abortions.

Continued: https://mg.co.za/health/2025-05-19-why-so-many-newborns-and-foetuses-are-abandoned-in-landfills-and-the-veld/

20.05.2025

Commentary

abandoned babies

abandoned fetuses

Diepkloof Forensic Pathology Service

South Africa – Dr Dusi, Dr Google, stigma and all the other reasons pregnant women are risking their lives

In today’s newsletter, Tanya Pampalone and Mia Malan explain why South Africa still has unsafe abortions.

By Bhekisisa Team
May 5, 2025

There are piles of R100 notes, a hand holding a tinted vial, a small plastic bag of brown herbs and a bloody sanitary pad with a message in green type: “Thank you Dr Dusi. Now I’m Free.” There is also a phone number where, presumably, you’ll find someone at the other end of the line eager to help.

If Dr Dusi doesn’t pick up, or, more likely, has changed his number, don’t worry. There are plenty of others to call. Dozens of them.

Continued: https://bhekisisa.org/health-news-south-africa/2025-05-05-dr-dusi-dr-google-stigma-and-all-the-other-reasons-pregnant-women-are-risking-their-lives/

South Africa- Soul City Institute marks Reproductive Health Month

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest adolescent birth rate in the world, with 99 births per 1, 000 young women, aged 15 to 19 - more than double the global average of 44 per 1, 000. Early pregnancy often leads to severe health risks and long-term socio-economic disadvantages for women.

Feb 20, 2025
Rising Sun Online

As Soul City Institute celebrates 30 years of transformative impact, the organisation reaffirms its unwavering commitment to feminist advocacy, with a sharp focus on reproductive justice.

“For three decades, Soul City Institute has been at the forefront of social and behavioural change, championing health equity, gender justice and the rights of young women and marginalised communities through advocacy, policy development, communication and in-community programmes. While we haven’t always called our work ‘feminist,’ at its core, it has always been about challenging patriarchy, dismantling power imbalances and amplifying the voices of young women as vital elements of sexual and reproductive health. Our commitment to reproductive justice is no different – it is about ensuring that every person has the right to make decisions about their bodies, free from coercion and discrimination,” says Phinah Kodisang, CEO of Soul City Institute.

Continued: https://risingsunnewspapers.co.za/306849/soul-city-institute-marks-reproductive-health-month/

20.02.2025

News

Feminist Leadership and Activism Centre

Africa – Prof. Charles Ngwena – A stalwart has bowed out

01 February 2025

The Centre for Human Rights is saddened to announce the death of our own, Professor Charles Ngwena. Prof. Ngwena passed away in Pretoria on the 31st of January 2025.

Prof. Ngwena (fondly known to us as ‘Charles’) was a towering intellectual, academic, an astute scholar, and a wonderful colleague by any measure. His death is a deep loss to the human rights field, especially in the fields of sexual and reproductive, as well as disability rights.

Continued: https://www.chr.up.ac.za/latest-news/3936-prof-charles-ngwena-a-stalwart-has-bowed-out

01.02.2025

News

Center for Human Rights

Charles Ngwena

Africa

South Africa

South Africa – Activists call for more education and access to safe abortions

October 1, 2024

Civil society organisation, Section27, has raised concern over the shortage of registered abortion facilities in the country and a rise of illegal clinics.

The organisation, which recently commemorated International Safe Abortion Day in Braamfontein in the Joburg CBD, went on a spree to take down illegal abortion posters.

Section27 also called on government to strengthen its efforts in providing vital information on this serious medical procedure.

Continued: https://www.yfm.co.za/2024/10/01/activists-call-for-more-education-and-access-to-safe-abortions/

01.10.2024

News

Abortion Support South Africa

Dr Sivuyisiwe Jekwa

Gao Phalaetsile

Ibis Reproductive Health

International Safe Abortion Day

South Africa – Eastern Cape gets SA’s first contraception and HIV kit vending machine

The first-of-its-kind vending machine stocks contraceptives, HIV kits, pregnancy tests, as well as sanitary towels.

By Cornelia Le Roux
10 Apr 2024

The Health Department will be handing over a self-care wellness vending machine in the Eastern Cape at Mthatha Ultra City on Wednesday.

...According to National Health Department spokesperson, Foster Mohale, the vending machine is the first of its kind in South Africa. "This initiative is targeting girls and women of childbearing to increase access to sexual reproductive health and HIV prevention services,” Mohale explained.

Continued: https://www.citizen.co.za/news/eastern-cape-contraception-hiv-kits-vending-machine-helth-department-latest/

10.04.2024

News

contraception vending machine

Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo

Foster Mohale

Nomakhosazana Meth

Sizwe Kupelo

South African Society of Psychiatrists

South Africa – Abortion: The good, the bad and the unsafe

Zandile Khumalo
11 March 2024

"ABORTION will happen whether society believes it or not, but we need to make sure that women stay alive." This is what activist and founder of Abortion Support South Africa, Gaopalelwe Phalaetsile, said amid the continued existence of illegal abortions.

As the world celebrated International Women’s Day on 8 March, Daily Sun rings the alarm on backstreet abortions, challenges in accessing legal pregnancy terminations and the stigmas that still exist.

Continued: https://www.snl24.com/dailysun/news/illegal-abortions-persist-despite-risks-and-activist-gaopalelwe-phalaetsile-raises-awareness-20240311

11.03.2024

Commentary

Abortion Support South Africa

Gaopalelwe Phalaetsile

International Women's Day

South Africa – The abortion rights defender using social media to educate mothers

Saturday, January 20, 2024

In the educational manual Abortion Services and Reproductive Justice in Rural South Africa, the vast nation is listed 10^th in the world’s murder rankings, with 45 daily killings on average.

South Africa is the global leader in violence against women, with a woman or girl, reported raped every four minutes, and every eight hours a woman is murdered by her male partner.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/gender/the-abortion-rights-defender-using-social-media-to-educate-mothers-4496686

20.01.2024

News

1996 Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act

Abortion Services and Reproductive Justice in Rural South Africa

Abortion Support South Africa

Feminist Mommy

Gaopalelwe Phalaetsile

Oxfam South Africa

Safe Abortion Action Fund

South Africa – Millions of rand go down the drain as state resources used for illegal abortion industry

Dec 10, 2023
Ntando Makhubu

AS South Africa sits on the edge of disaster resulting from the effects of unsafe abortions, communities and health experts have said what was devastating was the reality that not only were women and young girls endangering their lives by going the illegal route, but the real tragedy was the involvement of state officials, who supplied those who performed terminations and made millions from the illegal procedures.

This despite the country having put into place the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act in 1996, which allows women the right to safe abortions in hospitals and doctors’ rooms, up to 20 weeks of pregnancy to ensure safety and in keeping with the World Health Organisation’s prescripts.

Continued: https://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/news/millions-of-rand-go-down-the-drain-as-state-resources-used-for-illegal-abortion-industry-0c8b9d44-bf19-4596-8e43-14459a7b562b

South Africa: How poor service in the public sector is pushing women to ‘backstreet’ abortion

Posted by Ndivhuwo Mukwevho
Oct 18, 2023

In April 2022, *Grace Langa went to Frontier Hospital in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape for an abortion. “At first I went to the hospital on a Monday. I was told that they only perform abortions on Wednesdays.

“I went there again on Wednesday but they said that I had to come back the following week as they only take 20 abortion patients a day,” she recalls. Finally, Langa went back to the hospital the following week and got an ultrasound to see how far along her pregnancy was.

Continued: https://health-e.org.za/2023/10/18/ec-case-study-how-poor-service-in-the-public-sector-is-pushing-women-to-backstreet-abortion/