MARIE STOPES CLINIC
Abortion in Cape Town

Established in 1993 Marie Stopes South Africa is the country’s largest non-profit provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare services. We are part of the 38 country-strong Marie Stopes International Global Partnership, allowing us access to the latest innovations and expertise in the field of sexual and reproductive health. We seek to impact the quality of life in South Africa by decreasing maternal and infant mortality, averting unsafe, illegal abortions, decreasing the number of unwanted pregnancies through contraceptive uptake, reducing the impact of HIV, STIs and cervical cancer and expanding our services whenever and wherever possible. In South Africa, we operate 14 centres across 7 provinces and are a Section 21 non-profit organisation recognised for the quality of our clinical services and our non-judgemental, client-friendly approach. The fees we charge for our services are cross-subsidised across our network, meaning centres are able to offer prices that best suit the communities they serve. At Marie Stopes South Africa pro-choice refers not only to reproductive freedom and the right to a safe abortion but also the choice of when and with whom to have sex, regardless of sexual orientation. At Marie Stopes we offer a full-service package of sexual and reproductive health services and are regularly growing our service offering to remain up-to-date and able to meet our clients’ evolving needs. A recent report on this model commissioned by the European Union identified it as a successful tool to reduce the burden on public facilities and ensure patients have access to expert, quality care. Our work is closely aligned with government at various levels, through contracting, training and alignment to the Contraception and Fertility Planning Policy, the National Strategy on HIV/AIDS, TB and STIs and increasingly the Integrated School Health Policy. Think about how important it is for you to prevent pregnancy. For injectables to work, a woman must get a repeat injection ON TIME. Some people think that it's OK for the man to pull out of the vagina before he comes. If you have an unwanted pregnancy, the sooner you know, the better you can be helped to choose what to do. There are lots of government clinics that give free family planning. Look in the phone book or call a local clinic to find the closest one. Marie Stopes are South African government-approved reproductive health clinics. Any woman can ask for an abortion in the first three months (12 weeks) of pregnancy. You can visit your doctor who will refer you to an appropriate facility and a consultation fee will be charged. You can go to a private organisation such as Marie Stopes where there will be also be a charge. Some government facilities offer abortions for free, see link below for a list of local government facilities which offer the service. Medical abortion: Tablets to end an early pregnancy can be taken up until the 9th week of pregnancy. It will cause you to bleed like a period, but it might be heavier than your normal period. Surgical abortion: The pregnancy is removed whilst you are at the facility, typically through vacuum aspiration. It is important to know how many weeks pregnant you are as this will affect the type of abortion method available to you.