22 February 2006
The Department of Health would like to reassure the public that the right of
women to terminate pregnancy is NOT in anyway under threat as a result of the
Constitutional Court case lodged against four pieces of health legislation
including amendments to the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act.
At least three of the four health legislation that are a subject of a
Constitutional Court challenge by an organisation called Doctor for Life are
minor amendments aimed at improving efficiency in the delivery of services in
areas covered by these Acts of parliament.
Doctors for Life have taken the Speaker of the National Assembly,
Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and the Department of
Health to the Constitutional Court arguing that the NCOP did not facilitate
adequate public involvement in the finalisation of four health bills. The
organisation has expressed satisfaction will public involvement at the level of
the National Assembly.
Affected bills were the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill,
the Sterilisation Amendment Bill, the Dental Practitioners Amendment Bill and
the Traditional Health Practitioners Bill.
Except for the Traditional Health Practitioners Bill, all these bills were
intended to resolve some implementation challenges that were unforeseen during
the development of the main Acts.
The main sections of the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act, which
entrench the reproductive rights of women to terminate pregnancy is not in
dispute in this case. The Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill,
which is the subject of the application by Doctors for Life seeks to achieve
mainly the following:
* Devolved to the MECs for Health the powers which were previously held by
the Minister to designate the facilities that can provide termination of
pregnancy services. This was aimed at decentralising and improving the
efficiency of this process
* Allow registered nurses and midwives who have undergone appropriate training
to perform terminations of pregnancy (previously, this was limited to
doctors)
The outcomes of the Constitution Court case on this amendment bill, it will
have no bearing on the reproductive right of women to terminate pregnancy as
entrenched in the main section of the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act of
1996.
It is important to mention that Doctors for Life gave written submission and
made presentation to the Health Portfolio Committee on this amendment bill.
The Sterilisation Amendment Act was aimed mainly at extending the definition
of health threat to include both physical and mental health and to allow a
parent, primary care-giver, medical practitioner and the court to give consent
where sterilisation is in the interest of the person concerned.
The Dental Technicians Amendment Bill was aimed at recognising people who
are informally trained in the area and to enable dental technicians to make
direct claims from their clients which was not provided for the Dental
Technicians Act of 1979.
The Traditional Health Practitioners Act is the only significant piece of
legislation that is the subject of the Constitutional Court case. The Bill has
been in the public domain since 1997 when the Provincial Standing Committees on
Health held public hearings on the matter. The legislation seeks to regulate
traditional health practice and provide due recognition to traditional health
practitioners for the first time in the history of the country.
The Department of Health is committed to promoting the right of access to
health services including reproductive health services.
Contact: Sibani Mngadi
Cell: 0827720161
Issued by: Department of Health
22 February 2006
