Story

South Africa's Barriers to Abortion

January 03, 2013 | The Nation
By
Jake Naughton, Jina Moore and Estelle Ellis

The lobby at the Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Image by Jake Naughton. South Africa, 2012.

A long hallway leading to the women's clinic, where abortions are provided, at the Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Image by Jake Naughton. South Africa, 2012.

A view of the women's clinic, where abortions are performed, at the Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Image by Jake Naughton. South Africa, 2012.

Nurse Sharon Hobo, an abortion provider, demonstrates the tools and procedure used in an abortion at the women's clinic in the Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Image by Jake Naughton. South Africa, 2012.

The recovery room in the women's clinic, where abortions are provided, at the Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Image by Jake Naughton. South Africa, 2012.

Ward 195 is the abortion clinic at Johannesburg Academic. Hidden around a dark corner on an upper floor of this sprawling complex, the clinic serves women seeking second trimester abortions. Image by Jake Naughton. South Africa, 2012.

Illegal abortion providers post flyers like these near the clinic in Johannesburg, advertising cheap and painless abortions. Image by Jake Naughton. South Africa, 2012.

A city worker removes flyers advertising cheap and painless abortions, posted by illegal abortion providers. Image by Jake Naughton. South Africa, 2012.

Patients stream out of and into Johannesburg Academic Hospital, one of the busiest in the country. Image by Jake Naughton. South Africa, 2012.

Nurse Sharon Hobo, an abortion provider, in the procedure room at the women's clinic in the Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Image by Jake Naughton. South Africa, 2012.

Long waits and too few providers are consigning more and more women to illegal abortions.