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P.E. Church Net

CHRISTIAN NEWS
8th 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

Report: Philip Rosenthal <philip@rosenthal.net>

Open Letter to the Chairman of the Health Committee

Monday, 6 May 2002

OUTRAGE AND DISAPPOINTMENT

We would like to express our disappointment with the Reproductive Rights Alliance which has organised the “National Oversight Hearings into the Implementation of the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act: 7-8 May 2002”. These hearings cannot be declared legitimate because:

No prolifers or people presenting an alternative view to the Reproductive Rights Alliance (RRA) were invited (not even one) by the RRA to make presentations and therefore the hearings must be declared undemocratic and unconstitutional. This can only be assumed to be a deliberate ploy by the Reproductive Rights Alliance.

The hearings cannot be termed “national hearings” because prolifers were not consulted or invited to make presentations. Only friends of the RRA were invited or even informed about the hearings. This censorship is a violation of democratic parliamentary principles.

Considering the one-sided nature of the those who have been invited to present by the RRA at the hearings, the findings, discussion and possible recommendations of the way forward will be biased and skewed and therefore must be rejected. The process is irrevocably flawed and unjust, and therefore the outcomes will also be.

The topics of discussion put forward in the program have gaping holes. For example, they fail to deal with medical personal being pressurised into performing or assisting in an abortion. The program must therefore be revised to deal with these issues in order to obtain a true reflection of the implementation of the abortion act, rather than the limited one put forward by the RRA.

RECOMMENDATIONS

We urgently call for the rights of freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of speech, the right to life and the rights of the unborn to be upheld, as well as the virtues of honest debate and democratic process to be followed by:

Lifting the censorship of alternative views and giving a fair hearing and platform to engage the issues.

Extending the abortion hearings, by putting a further day aside to allow alternative views to be expressed. Prolife groups should be given an opportunity to make oral submissions.

Modifying the program to allow a complete and diverse range of topics to be discussed honestly.

Extending the date for written submissions. Most groups and organisations outside of the RRA clique were only informed of the deadline for oral submissions on Friday, 3 May. Allowing all groupings to make submissions would make the hearings “national”.

We trust that the Health Committee will accommodate our legitimate and fair requests.

Yours Faithfully
Robert Mc Cafferty
United Christian Action

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