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South Africa’s Abortion Laws here to stay
Roe v Wade was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court handed down in 1973, in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion.
On 24 June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the decision made 49 years ago in Roe v Wade, finding that the US Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. This meaning that the is no Federal Law regarding abortion and that each individual state may decide how they would regulate abortion – “returning the authority to regulate abortion to the people and their elective representatives”.
The South African Constitution, however, does confer one with the right to reproductive autonomy which includes the right to an abortion.
Within Section (1)(a) of the Constitution it is stated that the Republic of South Africa is founded on the constitutional value of human dignity. Section 10 specifically deals with human dignity, and states that “Everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected”.
Section 12(2)(a) deals with the Freedom and security of the person, and states that “everyone has the right to bodily and psychological integrity, which includes the right to make decisions concerning reproduction; and 12 (2)(b) provides every person with the right “to security in and control over their body”.
Section 27 (1)(a) states that, “everyone has the right to have access to health care services, including reproductive health care.”
The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Act 1 of 2008 is the primary act which provides further details regarding a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy. Within the preamble of the Act, it states that the purpose of the Act is to “promote reproductive rights and extend freedom of choice by affording every woman the right to choose whether to have an early, safe and legal termination of pregnancy according to her individual beliefs.”
The above act was challenged within the 2006 case of Doctors for Life International v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others whereby the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Act 38 of 2004 was declared inconsistent with the Constitution by the Constitutional Court. This application challenged the constitutional validity of four health related Bills on the basis that Parliament had failed to fulfill its constitutional obligation to facilitate public involvement when passing the Bills. The declaration of inconsistency with the Constitution, in 2006, was due to procedural grounds and the substantive law of the Act was not challenged. The amended Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Act 1 of 2008 was assented to on 12 February 2008 and promulgated on 18 February 2008.
In order to abolish a woman’s right to reproductive autonomy, the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Act 2008 would need to be declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court and the Constitution would need to be amended, by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly (267 out of the 400 members would need to vote in favour of the amendment).
In summation, it is clear that the American case of Roe v Wade will not have any immediate effect on a South African woman’s right to reproductive autonomy.
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