Madam Deputy Speaker, most presenters at the public hearings expressed grave concerns about the implications of this Bill, which aims to increase access to abortion. The negative impact of the Bill on health workers and health services was a common concern. The overriding issue was, however, the increased risk to woman's emotional and physical well-being and the blatant further violation of the unborn child's right to life. The committee yet again simply ignored the inputs and proceeded unabated on a mission to steamroll the Bill through Parliament.
The ACDP proposed various amendments aimed not only at protecting women and children considering termination, but also providing protection for health care workers and professionals who choose not to participate in termination of pregnancy due to religious, ethical or moral beliefs. Court cases, as we are aware, are ongoing where medical staff has been discriminated against for refusing to carry out termination procedures.
The ACDP's amendments also provide for mandatory counselling to ensure that mothers are well informed about the risks of abortion and the alternatives available. Many women are suffering from physical, emotional and psychological consequences of abortions as they did not have enough information to make an informed choice. We need to reach out with compassion to such women, particularly those suffering from postabortion syndrome.
The ACDP believes that by ignoring calls for explicit and mandatory counselling, government is setting itself up to be sued in the future for suppressing information and the findings of medical research. The Uniting Presbyterian Church in South Africa, for example, has cautioned that unless such amendments are adopted, women for whom we are seeking protection will soon be seeking justice and compensation just as in the case of tobacco companies and mines who have had to pay for the consequences of their neglect in failing to fully inform smokers and the users of short-fibre asbestos about the inherent risks.
This is a timely wake-up call which should be heeded - and we would as the ACDP fully support and in fact encourage women to embark upon this litigation. Women who have had abortions require every form of assistance due to physical, emotional and psychological effects.
The ACDP, in addressing these issues, does not waiver in its conviction that the value of innocent human life is priceless and is in full agreement with the views of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of South Africa that human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.
The great antislavery campaigner, William Wilberforce, understood that while people may ignore the truth, they still recognise it when they see it. So, he looked for ways to remind people of what they already knew in their hearts, that slavery was wrong. Similarly, we are winning the hearts and minds of our people that abortion is wrong. Independent polls showed the 1996 abortion law to be South Africa's most unpopular law. The ACDP will oppose this Bill. I thank you.