Analysis of Changing Rural Women's Reproduction Behavior Patterns in South Africa

This report presents a description of the patterns of change in rural women's reproductive behaviour in South Africa over a period of 17 years extending from 1987-9 to 2004. The analyses were informed by the Programme of Action that was set out at the 1994 International Cairo Conference on Population and Development. The Programme of Action has a 20-year implementation time period, and the year 2004 was halfway through the 20 years. The year 2004 is also 30 years since the introduction of South Africa's National Family Planning Programme in 1975, which advanced the health rationale for fertility regulation. It is also twenty years after the introduction of the Population Development Programme in 1985, which emphasized the demographic rationale for fertility regulation. It is finally the seventh year after the introduction of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act in 1997, which legalized pregnancy terminations under prescribed conditions, with emphasis on women's rights to choice. Five of South Africa's nine provinces, which have more than 50 per cent of their populations living in tribal areas, were included in the analyses.