Research: Shades of shame marked abortion trial 'Major Problem'

This is an edited extract of Dr Klausen’s book, Abortion Under Apartheid, published by Oxford University Press. Dr Klausen is associate professor in the department of history at Carleton University in Ottawa

The 26 young women called to testify had been between the ages of 17 and 23 at the time of their abortions, and all were unmarried. All were white, and it was their whiteness that aroused the authorities to intervene in clandestine abortion.

As Dr Derk Crichton explained in court, criminal abortion was the "major problem" in his unit; and Durban’s King Edward VIII Hospital for blacks handled the greatest number of septic abortions in SA.

15-year-old dies aborting 5-month pregnancy; lover docked –

LAGOS—A 20-year-old man, Sodiq Sulaimon, yesterday appeared before an Ikeja High Court for allegedly procuring abortion for his 15-year-old lover (names withheld), who died in the process.

 

The defendant is facing a one-count charge of manslaughter brought against him by Lagos State Government, for which he pleaded not guilty.