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Browsing Health Sciences by Subject "Abortion services -- South Africa -- Free State"
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Item Open Access Die redes vir die hoë insidensie van terminasie van swangerskappe in die Vrystaat(University of the Free State, 2006-11) Mei, C. R. L.; Roets, L.English: The Choice on Termination Act , No 92 of 1996 determine the circumstances in which and conditions under which the pregnancy of a woman may be terminated; believing that termination of pregnancy is not a form of contraception or population control. The act however grand women permission to terminated their pregnancies during the first 12 weeks of the gestation period, solely on her request and without reason. According to the statistics of termination of pregnancy of the Department of Health in the Free State an enormous increase in termination of pregnancies were noted after the implementation of the Act, No 92 of 1996. The believe for the practice of termination of pregnancies was that it should be done only according to the provisions of the Act, and under no circumstances as a form of contraception or to rid unwanted pregnancies. The enormous increase in the statistics of termination of pregnancies might therefore be seen as a consequence of unwanted pregnancies. The researcher thus decided due to this observation to launch an investigation to clarify the reasons leading to the increase in termination of pregnancies. The aim of the study was to identify the reasons for the high incidence of termination of pregnancies in the Free State. The objectives of the study was to identify: 1) the possible reasons for unwanted pregnancies 2) the possible reasons for termination of pregnancies. The researcher used a descriptive design as it provided an accurate portrayal of the characteristics of a paticular group in a real life situation. Data was obtained by individual structured interviews directed by the researcher by using a questionnaire. The participants in the study consisted only of clients visiting the termination clinics requesting a termination. The data was obtained in three of the institutions in the Free State rendering termination services. The instutions was selected purposively, though the participants were conveniently selected. The data-analysis was conducted by the Biostatistics department at the University of the Free State. Explanatory data, namely frequencies and percentages for categorical variables and medians and percentages for continuous variables, have been determined. The coding of the questionnaires was done by the researcher and the data was presented by using tables and figures. The researcher’s conclusion is thus that women whom request termination of pregnancies use their terminations as a form of contraception, which is forbidden by the Act, No 92 of 1996. The majority of the participants in this study however named socioeconomic reasons for their decision to have a termination. The prevention of pregnancy might decrease requests for termination of pregnancies. According to the data-analysis and conclusions, recommendations were made to increase the incidence of termination of pregnancies. Specific recommendations regarding the following aspects of the research findings were made: 1) sexual education, 2) the effective use of contraception, 3) the prevention of termination of pregnancies, 3) support of parents and family in the decision to have a termination, and 4) counselling. Recommendations regarding ongoing research according to the data-analysis and conclusions were made and focuses primarily on counselling, repeated termination of pregnancies and the psychological condition of women whom request termination of pregnancies.