I had an abortion at Hillbrow Clinic in March 2020, and it was not a great experience. I decided to have an abortion as I was in my final year [at a tertiary institution], and the father didn’t care to know. I went there first to get a scan and make an appointment. The women all line up in a room and we were spoken to by a nurse who told us that if we were going to waste her time and complain about the pain then we should leave now.
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We all waited to get the sonar scans done to see if we qualify to terminate. I was 6 weeks pregnant at the time and was scheduled to come back in two weeks. I arrived at 7am as they had asked us to only to be attended to at half past 8 and then the group was smaller. There were 5 of us and we were all told to take two pills which were to soften the uterine wall. After 2 hours we were called in one by one. The older women went in and out quickly and quietly, the younger girls who were more scared, like me, were ridiculed by the nurses and they insulted us for having abortions.
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After the procedure, the nurse told us to write comments in the comments box if we felt we were treated badly. I do not think if we wrote our comments it would have made a difference. They make the whole experience traumatic. The way the nurses spoke to us, it was evident that there will forever be stigma attached to abortion. You are made to feel less than human for making the choice. I now understand why girls would rather have illegal abortions.
anonymous
Do you have questions about what the SA law says about abortion? Click here to find out.
Are you thinking about getting an abortion but you’re not sure where to start? Find out here.
Do you know about the different abortion procedures? Learn about them here.
Getting an illegal abortion is dangerous and puts your health at risk. Learn how to spot illegal providers in this article.
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