Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights: Social and Economic Impact Faced by Women in the Northern Cape
Date: 28 Mar 2025
By Revonia Konile (Legal Services Intern)
The sexual and reproductive health of a woman is interconnected to many human rights such as the right to privacy, dignity and healthcare. These fundamental rights are enshrined and governed in terms of section 27 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa; stating that “every individual holds the right to not be denied access to healthcare services, including reproductive healthcare”. Some of these services include but are not limited to free and safe abortion, post-rape counselling, and free and accessible contraceptives. This affords women the right to make free and responsible choices about their bodies, like the choice to whether or not to have children. These rights must be respected and protected at all times. It is the responsibility of the South African government to ensure the provision and the safety of these healthcare services to all women despite their financial status; free from any harm, fear or stigma. This year marks the 48th anniversary of International Women’s Day and 31 years into Democracy yet women’s rights are still being threatened, challenged and violated. One of these challenges being the social and economic inequalities. In South Africa, many women and young adolescents are dependent on non-profit healthcare providers, and many of these providers are beneficiaries of international fundings and donors; which in itself comes with many challenges affecting many South Africans. It is imperative to note that these injustices surrounding reproductive health rights are also on a greater scale globally affected by politics and foreign funding policies. This does not only threaten a shortage in funding healthcare services or products, but it also threatens an increase in unemployment and shortage of healthcare professionals.
In the Norther Cape the impacted history of poverty, alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy and illiteracy continues to shape the slow economic development of the province. With the Northern Cape having a population of 1.36 million people; it is the least contributing province to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). As the least contributing province in the country, the Northern Cape is still an undeveloped province though it is leading in the mining industry; with poverty still finding itself deeply engraved in many households and communities. As HIV/AIDS is also recognised as a major global health issue, the Northern Cape has seen a huge increase in reported HIV/AIDS cases due to lack of health service delivery and the limited access to healthcare services and products. It currently only has four (4) public healthcare facilities that provide abortion services in the whole province for first trimester termination and only one that provides abortion services for the second trimester. Despite the many challenges surrounding sexual health and reproductive rights; we commend the South African government for its progressive and transformative laws on reproductive health to curb the injustices and inequality that many women face. And further commend and highlight the work of international countries and councils such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that still continues to advocate for countries to develop laws and policies to support sexual and reproductive rights of women. Although these are step in the right direction, proper policy development, implementation and monitoring is still needed. And with the current international funding crisis, many women will be denied access to healthcare services; and with the Northern Cape having a limited supply of healthcare facilities and services, many women from rural communities will be subjected to illegal and unsafe abortion procedures and unwanted pregnancies; while still fighting the economic challenges of travelling costs to most of these facilities.