This may not make for very easy reading.

A botched abortion led to the gruesome discovery of dozens of aborted foetuses, as well as other body parts, stored in the freezer of a deregistered Pretoria doctor.

It’s a frightening reminder of just how rife illegal abortions are in our country, and also how powerless the government and the Health Professions Council of SA often are to stop doctors practising without a license.

More here from TimesLive:

Eddie Mhlanga, the Mpumalanga health department’s obstetrics and gynaecology specialist, said that for every natural miscarriage or abortion in a hospital, five women were admitted to a hospital because of complications from illegal abortions…

Police and Health Professions Council inspectors arrested the Pretoria doctor on Tuesday. She was deregistered in 2008 after one of her patients was rushed to hospital by relatives following a botched abortion.

A police spokesman said they had found a “nightmare”.

“We counted over 22 [foetuses].”

He said the seized medication had been stolen from Gauteng government hospitals.

Council spokesman Priscilla Sekhonyana said the doctor was deregistered for failing to pay her council fees, “a criminal offence”.

SA law states that a woman has up until 13 weeks of pregnancy in which to choose to have an abortion, extended up to 20 weeks depending on the mother’s social or economic situation.

Once that time has elapsed, women and doctors must show that the life of the mother or child is at risk.

The Pretoria doctor has been charged with ‘possession of human body parts and illegal possession of scheduled medication’, although the Health Professions Council of SA cannot lay charges due to her being deregistered.

[source:timeslive]