8 May 2002
PROLIFERS PROTEST EXCLUSION FROM PARLIAMENTARY HEARINGS
Today, 8 May 2002, prolifers protested their exclusion from the parliamentary hearings on
abortion by silently holding placards with unborn babies reading, "They can't speak.
Now we can't speak for them". The Chairman of the Health Committee lost his
temper, shouted at the prolifers, tore up one of the placards and manhandled an elderly
pro-lifer. The pro-lifers then left peacefully carrying their placards.Earlier, the Chairman, Mr L.V. Ngculu had asked for a picture of an aborted
baby to be removed, because it was putting him off his lunch. ACDP MP Mrs Cheryllyn
Dudley asked why, since that was what the hearings were about.
Yesterday, United Christian Action spokesperson Rob McCafferty
handed the chairman an open letter protesting undemocratic nature of the so-called
'national hearings', which excluded prolifers. The hearings were organised and
exclusively presented by South Africa's umbrella abortionist organisation, the
'Reproductive Rights Alliance'. One abortionist speaker misleadingly referred to
the 'Hippocratic Oath' as supporting the duty of doctors to provide abortions as part of
patient care, while the oath in fact specifically prohibits abortion.
An ANC Health Committee MP suggested that new legislation should
be introduced to punish doctors who refuse to do abortions, but the abortionist's legal
spokesperson said that this would be unconstitutional. A re-occurring theme of the
hearings was that the government could not implement the Act because of non-cooperation
from healthworkers. After five years of legal abortion, only 88 of the designated 290
health facilities were performing abortions. The government wanted to force prolife
hospitals to do abortions. The 'Reproductive Rights Alliance' called for the
'mainstreaming' of abortions after 3 months and said that midwives should also be allowed
to do late abortions - to make up for the shortage of doctors willing to abort
babies. No healthworkers were allowed to explain why they objected to doing
abortions.
Mrs Cheryllyn Dudley, ACDP spokesperson on health asked the
chairman for a minute's silence in memory of the more than two hundred thousand babies
killed by abortion. This was greeted by howls of protest from other members of the
health committee.
Mr Graham McIntosh of the DA, also questioned why the prolifers
had been excluded from the process.
Mrs Cheryllyn Dudley of the ACDP can be contacted on 082 8906520.
Mr Rob McCafferty of United Christian Action can be contacted on 082 7624180 |
