Should HIV positive women be allowed to abort under existing laws, notably the Termination of Pregnancy Act?
SPEECH TO BULAWAYO WOMEN LAWYERS ASSOCIATION
I have been asked to kick off the debate on the question “Should HIV positive women be allowed to abort under existing laws, namely the Termination of Pregnancy Act”? In my allotted time of 10 minutes I shall give you my general views on abortion and then I shall turn specifically to the provisions of the Termination of Pregnancy Act No. 29 of 1977 in an effort to answer the specific question raised in this debate.
A few thousand years ago the Psalmist wrote (in Psalm 139: 13 - 16): “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.”
From this passage we can glean that every person from the moment of conception is a person in God’s eyes, and somebody who has been fearfully and wonderfully made. I discovered this for myself last year when my wife had a scan. Her pregnancy was hardly noticeable and yet there revealed on the screen was a tiny baby sucking its thumb. Indeed tests using ultrasound have revealed that babies in the womb are startled by bright light, jump at loud buzzes and when a soft rattle is shaken they often suck their thumbs.
Lest I be accused of being emotional regarding this topic let me outline the physical facts regarding the person-hood of babies in the womb.