Opinion / Columnist
Doctors promoting illegal abortions
05 Feb 2015 at 05:57hrs | Views
"I WILL maintain the utmost respect for human life from the beginnings, even under threat, and will not use my specialist knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity…"
Above is an extract from the Hippocratic Oath taken by medical doctors before they exchange books for scalpels and theory for practice.
The oath is intended to reign in the power held by those in the medical fraternity so that it can be exercised under specific ethical standards.
Noble on paper, it has proved useless in practice as those sworn to respect life have little regard for it and specialist knowledge is used to end life.
This can be seen in cases of abortions. Look not to dingy alleys where street midwives do their hatchet work but to surgeries.
A snap survey by the Financial Gazette revealed that there are doctors who have turned their backs on the oath they took and are instead inducing spontaneous abortions for a few pieces of silver.
The utmost respect for life now seems to depend on how much you can fork out. Pay nothing and sanctimonious hypocrites read out the oath by heart. Flash out the green dollar and everything changes. It seems ethics can be prostituted for the right amount.
Tatenda (not real name) says she was introduced to a certain doctor by a friend after she had fallen pregnant and her boyfriend was denying paternity.
"The doctor took me to his home in Budiriro where I paid US$250.
"A tablet was inserted in my privates and after four hours I lost a lot of blood. With it went the baby. It was a horrific experience," she recalls.
According to a Harare doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, there are two main abortion procedures being practiced in the country.
"The most common abortion procedure is a medical abortion which involves taking medications, usually misoprostol, within the first seven to nine weeks of pregnancy to induce an abortion. The drug costs around US$5 and increases uterine contractions which causes the uterus to expel everything in it.
"There is surgical abortion (suction curettage or vacuum curettage) which involves using a suction device to remove the contents of a pregnant woman's uterus," he said.
A doctor stationed at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo admitted that his colleagues were making money through facilitating abortions.
"I have a number of colleagues who do these abortions. They charge between US$100 and US$400 and they are making a killing.
"They even charge US$30 for writing a Misoprostol prescription to those who want to do the abortion on their own," he said.
A Kadoma- based pharmacist believes abortion is a personal choice that should be accepted by law.
"The decision to have an abortion is personal and complicated, and any legislation that seeks to control such decisions is based on an anti-choice ideology that thinks very little of women. It assumes that women, if not kept in check by the government, are not to be trusted to make good decisions about their bodies and families. I do not hesitate to help when requested," he said.
Such health professionals are exposing women to danger as these procedures are not entirely safe. A patient can develop complications which might lead to a perennial infection or she can bleed to death.
In 2014, over 2000 young women aged 17 to 25 years sought post-abortion care services at Harare Hospital.
At Parirenyatwa Hospital, the monthly average of those seeking such care increased from about 70 to over 100 women a month in the past two years, most of them aged from 17 to 26 years.
To their shame, health professionals who swore to protect life even under threat to their person are contributing to these statistics and endangering women for the love of money.
Abortion is illegal in Zimbabwe but can be done under special circumstances as specified by the law.
According to the Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1977 a pregnancy can be terminated in cases such as rape and incest.
"Where there is a serious risk that the child to be born will suffer from a physical or mental defect of such a nature that he/she will permanently be seriously handicapped; or where there is a reasonable possibility that the foetus is conceived as a result of unlawful intercourse," reads part of the Act.
However, section 60 of the Criminal Law and Codification Reform Act provides that, "Any person who intentionally terminates a pregnancy or terminates a pregnancy by conduct which he or she realises involves a real risk or possibility of terminating the pregnancy shall be guilty of unlawful termination of pregnancy and liable to a fine not exceeding level 10 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both."
The law seems to have been rendered useless as back door abortions are carried out on a daily basis by some unscrupulous health professionals.
Above is an extract from the Hippocratic Oath taken by medical doctors before they exchange books for scalpels and theory for practice.
The oath is intended to reign in the power held by those in the medical fraternity so that it can be exercised under specific ethical standards.
Noble on paper, it has proved useless in practice as those sworn to respect life have little regard for it and specialist knowledge is used to end life.
This can be seen in cases of abortions. Look not to dingy alleys where street midwives do their hatchet work but to surgeries.
A snap survey by the Financial Gazette revealed that there are doctors who have turned their backs on the oath they took and are instead inducing spontaneous abortions for a few pieces of silver.
The utmost respect for life now seems to depend on how much you can fork out. Pay nothing and sanctimonious hypocrites read out the oath by heart. Flash out the green dollar and everything changes. It seems ethics can be prostituted for the right amount.
Tatenda (not real name) says she was introduced to a certain doctor by a friend after she had fallen pregnant and her boyfriend was denying paternity.
"The doctor took me to his home in Budiriro where I paid US$250.
"A tablet was inserted in my privates and after four hours I lost a lot of blood. With it went the baby. It was a horrific experience," she recalls.
According to a Harare doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, there are two main abortion procedures being practiced in the country.
"The most common abortion procedure is a medical abortion which involves taking medications, usually misoprostol, within the first seven to nine weeks of pregnancy to induce an abortion. The drug costs around US$5 and increases uterine contractions which causes the uterus to expel everything in it.
"There is surgical abortion (suction curettage or vacuum curettage) which involves using a suction device to remove the contents of a pregnant woman's uterus," he said.
A doctor stationed at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo admitted that his colleagues were making money through facilitating abortions.
"I have a number of colleagues who do these abortions. They charge between US$100 and US$400 and they are making a killing.
"They even charge US$30 for writing a Misoprostol prescription to those who want to do the abortion on their own," he said.
A Kadoma- based pharmacist believes abortion is a personal choice that should be accepted by law.
"The decision to have an abortion is personal and complicated, and any legislation that seeks to control such decisions is based on an anti-choice ideology that thinks very little of women. It assumes that women, if not kept in check by the government, are not to be trusted to make good decisions about their bodies and families. I do not hesitate to help when requested," he said.
Such health professionals are exposing women to danger as these procedures are not entirely safe. A patient can develop complications which might lead to a perennial infection or she can bleed to death.
In 2014, over 2000 young women aged 17 to 25 years sought post-abortion care services at Harare Hospital.
At Parirenyatwa Hospital, the monthly average of those seeking such care increased from about 70 to over 100 women a month in the past two years, most of them aged from 17 to 26 years.
To their shame, health professionals who swore to protect life even under threat to their person are contributing to these statistics and endangering women for the love of money.
Abortion is illegal in Zimbabwe but can be done under special circumstances as specified by the law.
According to the Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1977 a pregnancy can be terminated in cases such as rape and incest.
"Where there is a serious risk that the child to be born will suffer from a physical or mental defect of such a nature that he/she will permanently be seriously handicapped; or where there is a reasonable possibility that the foetus is conceived as a result of unlawful intercourse," reads part of the Act.
However, section 60 of the Criminal Law and Codification Reform Act provides that, "Any person who intentionally terminates a pregnancy or terminates a pregnancy by conduct which he or she realises involves a real risk or possibility of terminating the pregnancy shall be guilty of unlawful termination of pregnancy and liable to a fine not exceeding level 10 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both."
The law seems to have been rendered useless as back door abortions are carried out on a daily basis by some unscrupulous health professionals.
Source - fingaz
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
