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DFL
LAUNCH LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
DOCTORS
FOR LIFE INTERNATIONAL
PRESS
RELEASE
Embargo:
Monday 15 Nov 2004
Enquiries:
John Smyth QC (legal spokesperson for DFL)
Cell:
083 653 8804
DURBAN
NORTH HIGH SCHOOL ARRANGES SECRET ABORTION FOR SCHOOLGIRL IN
FEBRUARY 2004
MIDWIFE
PERFORMS ABORTION AT DURBAN CLINIC WITHOUT CONSULTING MEDICAL PRACTITIONER
PARENTS
SUFFER DEVASTATING SHOCK WHEN THEIR DAUGHTER GIVES BIRTH TO A
28-WEEK TERM BABY SON CALLED STORME AS A RESULT OF THE ABORTION
DOCTORS
FOR LIFE INTERNATIONAL LAUNCH LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
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Doctors
for Life International (DFL) have launched legal action in the
Durban High Court against the Headmistress and Counsellor of the
Danville Park Girls’ High School in Durban, the School Governing
Body, the MEC for Education in KZN, and against the Rose Clinic, its
gynaecologist proprietor Dr Vikash Nundall, and Sister Pillay, a midwife.
-
DFL
is a co-Plaintiff with Crystal Osler and her mother, both of whom
sue for damages for post-traumatic shock, and in Crystal’s case,
severe depression.
Crystal
is claiming R250,000 and her mother R100,000 by way of general damages.
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Crystal
alleges that the School acted unlawfully in arranging an abortion
without consulting her parents, and without ascertaining the term of
her pregnancy. She alleges that the clinic subjected her to an
illegal third trimester abortion.
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DFL
claim orders against the Rose Clinic and its proprietor that they
cease to offer abortion facilities at their clinics (in Durban and at
Richard’s Bay) until the provisions of the Abortion Act of 1996
and its Regulations are complied with in respect of counselling their
patients, obtaining their informed consent, and ensuring criminal
offences are not committed by breaching section 2 of the Act as to
the circumstances in which the law permits an abortion.
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The
case raises the Constitutional issues of whether a woman who is
subjected to an illegal abortion is entitled to damages for loss of
dignity under section 10 of the Bill of Rights, and whether a baby
born alive as a result of an abortion has a right to life under
section 11 of the Bill of Rights.
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Attorneys
Van Lingen of Durban act for all the Plaintiffs and they have
instructed Adv Dieter Achtzehn as Counsel for the Plaintiffs.
DFL
represent more than 1000 medical doctors and specialists
three-quarters of whom practice in South Africa. Doctors For Life was
founded as a South African organisation in 1991 and has spread across
the globe. Please go to: www.doctorsforlifeinternational.com.
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