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Nelly Masango* was 16 years old when she and her then boyfriend, whom she says was 19 years old at the time, found out they were expecting a baby. However, the realisation that they were “too young to handle the responsibility [of parenthood] as well as fear of my family disowning me for falling pregnant” led them to determine that termination was “our only option”.
While according to the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, “women of any age or marital status have access to abortion services upon request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and, in certain cases, access extends to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy”, Masango, who hails from Soshanguve, a township in the north of Pretoria, said:
