Comment on the “Illegal Abortions In Pietermaritzburg” article by Nicole John & Tarryn Adriaan, which appeared in the Maritzburg Echo of 11 August 2011

While, as effect of legislation, state facilities provide services for termination of pregnancy it is, however, still very much frowned upon by a society that is pre-dominantly Christian in religion and largely traditional, the society of Pietermaritzburg.

Being a non-cosmopolitan city that it is Pietermaritzburg consist of different communities which have strong cultural values and religious beliefs. The Islamic and Hindu communities subscribe to strong cultural values and religious beliefs. Pietermaritzburg is close to many rural communities. Therefore the core of its community is largely traditional. Also there are numerous Christian faith missions and religious organisations. All these value and belief systems are strongly opposed to termination of pregnancy. As a result all these characteristics, the society of Pietermaritzburg exhibit a people whose attitude is, to a greater extent, apprehensive to accept abortion as a part of its practices as society.

On the other hand Pietermaritzburg have, in the past few years, been experiencing an influx of youth immigrants from other provinces and towns who come to the city in search of educational institutions. These youth are away from the care and guidance of their parents, which in-turn expose them to a lifestyle which involves drinking, partying, and unsafe sex. The result of that are the growing statistics of teenage pregnancy. Ruthless opportunists have opened up these illegal abortion businesses to take advantage of the plight of the city youth that is desperate for a solution to a problem which, to mind of the youth, cannot be solved by going to a state institution due to fear of shame and possible negative criticism by service providers at these institutions. 

I recently had the opportunity to spend time and photograph “Nje-Just”, a UKZN-based comic group formed by students of this university. As part of the photo shoot itinerary the King Edward Avenue bus stop which is located near the main entrance of the university was one of the locations on which shots were to be taken.

If you are familiar with this facility you know the state of degradation that it is in. So as we are taking shots on one side of the shelter we are confronted by these “Safe Abortion” posters which are posted all over the walls of the bus stop shelter. Thinking that the whole scene could provoke thought to the viewer and lead to discussions around the issue of abortion, teenage pregnancy and related issues we decided to take shots of different members of the group poised in such a way that illustrate a picture of a couple who are in their youth, are confronted by a situation in which a major decision has to be made between themselves and seem to be in a serious discussion about such an issue. Therefore the “Safe Abortion” poster in the background is placed in the middle of the shots. The purpose of this was to achieve a composition of flier being the issue between the couple, or the issue of abortion being the subject matter of their conversation.