for the first half of the twentieth century the clandestine abortion industry seems to have 
 been tacitly accepted by south african law enforcement officials .
generally abortionists , 
 medical and untrained alike , were prosecuted only in the aftermath of a woman s death when 
 the police could no longer look the other way .
similar situations had existed elsewhere ; in 
 the united states ( usa ) , for example , during the first half of the twentieth century an 
  unwritten agreement existed that there was  no prosecution unless there was a death. 
  the impression that  criminal abortion was tolerated by the police is reinforced by 
 watts who says he performed abortions on the girlfriends of police officers ( see below ) , as 
 well as by events surrounding an equally sensational abortion trial that occurred twenty 
 years prior to the crichton 
dr gerhardus buchner , dr edward 
 blumberg and a nurse named susanna pieterse were arrested for providing abortions in an 
 extremely busy and lucrative abortion clinic located at castle mansions in eloff street in 
 downtown johannesburg . 
 
buchner , a south african doctor who received his medical degree at the sorbonne , was 
 in charge of the clinic that had been open since at least 1942 .
the clinic s services were 
 in high demand ; white women came from all four provinces as well as from outside south 
 africa . 
 
a nurse who once worked for buchner testified that she looked after up to nine women 
 at a time at the clinic . 
 
the clinic operated discreetly and the need for secrecy meant that abortions performed at 
 night were lit only by flash lights because it was feared electric lights would attract 
 unwanted attention .
yet the johannesburg police knew about buchner s clinic and for years 
 tolerated its existence , probably because of bribes . 
 
in fact it was an official complaint made to police in pretoria , located 60  km 
 ( 37  miles ) from johannesburg , by a man determined to have the clinic exposed that spurred 
 the investigation . 
  during the trial the attorney - general for the transvaal , f.e .
lutge , accused the 
 police of colluding in buchner s  gigantic practice because for years he had operated  on 
 the main thoroughfare of johannesburg  apparently
abortionist in an official report by police , and , in 1946 , an afrikaans 
 newspaper , the weekblad , published a story about his practice in an article 
 entitled  aborsie in johannesburg (  abortion in johannesburg ) .
lutge said 
 police officials had even  wined and dined at buchner s premises in castle mansions . 
 
the lack of official action led the attorney - general to surmise the police must have 
  connived at the practice of abortion in castle mansions , 
  and the case of this well - known clinic suggests that police for decades must have 
 turned a blind eye to clandestine abortion elsewhere . after the convictions of buchner , 
 blumberg and pieterse the clandestine abortion industry
once again receded to the shadows 
 until the late 1960s when the changed cultural climate made abortion a highly visible and 
 important political issue , to the degree that the government found it expedient to destroy 
 the career of another medical abortionist , dr derk crichton .
derk crichton qualified as a doctor in 1944 at the university of cape town ( uct ) , where 
 his father e.c .
crichton held the chair in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology 
 for many years . 
 
he earned a first class in surgery at uct , obtained a doctor of philosophy in 
 radiological gynaecology and obstetrics in 1952 from oxford , and became in 1954 one of the 
 first clinical professors at the medical school at the university of natal in durban . 
 
at the age of 32 he took up the position of chair of the university of natal s 
 department of gynaecology and obstetrics . at the time of his arrest in 1972
crichton was 
 managing the gynaecology and obstetrics ward located at the king edward viii hospital , 
 built in 1936 and the teaching hospital of the university s medical school for 
  non - europeans. the hospital managed the delivery of 23  000 african babies a year and , 
 with 200 beds , was at the time the third largest such ward in the world . 
 
he became a fellow of the royal 
 college of surgeons of edinburgh in 1953 and a fellow of the royal college of 
 obstetricians and gynaecologists in 1957 . 
 
he was awarded the blair - bell lectureship by the latter in 1965 for outstanding 
 research and in 1967 won the hamilton - maynard medal for the best south african medical 
 publication of the year , an article describing his method of repairing ureteric 
 fistulae . 
  in 1969
he became the external examiner for the royal college of obstetricians and 
 gynaecologists ; this was in addition to the english - speaking south african universities 
 and the university of salisbury in rhodesia ( zimbabwe ) . from 1967 until he left south 
 africa in 1974 he performed all sex - realignment operations ( male to female ) in natal . 
 
at the time of his arrest in 1972 he was president of the regional council of the 
 royal college of gynaecologists and obstetricians in south africa . 
 
as an indian patient embarking on 
 the process of sex reassignment said about crichton ,  he had an unshakeable confidence in 
 what he was doing which seemed to boost the spirits of those he came in contact 
 with. 
  an indian doctor , formerly a student of crichton s , recalled ,  derk crichton was 
 like a god to us , we would queue for his lectures which for us were like the ten 
 commandments .
he was so sure of his medicine that if he told us to treat a patient a 
 certain way , regardless of what the textbooks said , we did it  . 
  he was also infamous for his temper and inability to 
suffer fools. 
  bongiwe bolani , who worked as a nurse at king edward viii hospital in the 
 mid-1960s , remembers crichton as arrogant and terrifying : he was a horrible man .
he screamed , he shouted , he humiliated us , made you feel like imbeciles .
other people , older white males , terrified me from that time for many years .
one of 
 crichton s former students is dr sam mokgokong , south africa s first african gynaecologist 
 and instructor in a medical school , and he recalls crichton with huge affection , saying 
  he s like a father to me , he took me up , he made me. he says crichton was colour - blind 
 and  even - handed with his students , meaning he treated his white and black students the 
 same . 
 
even bolani recalls crichton urging black nurses to obtain further training so 
 they could be promoted to higher positions .
she  took up this educational challenge and 
 eventually became a matron . 
  at both addington hospital ( for whites and coloureds in segregated wards ) and king edward 
 viii hospital ( for africans ) , as well as in private practice , crichton was constantly 
 confronted with the effects of clandestine abortion , telling an audience in 1970 ,  were i 
 a member of the clergy i might say that abortion is my 
i know more about criminal abortions in durban than anyone else  it would be 
 extraordinary if i didnt. 
  he estimated that during his eighteen years at king edward viii and mccord zulu 
 hospital between 1954 and 1972 he had treated an astounding 40  000 african 
 women suffering the effects of illegal abortion   at least one died every 
 month . 
 
some girls and women he treated had procured abortions on themselves but most had 
 gone to untrained abortionists , the vast majority of which were what he called 
soap 
 injectors because they injected liquid soap into women s uteri , a dangerous method that 
 often caused infection or death as a result of air or soap entering the blood stream .
the 
 method was popular with clandestine abortionists because it was relatively easy and could 
 be employed in one visit .
he estimated the soap - injection method killed one in every 200 
 women and left another 5% sterile . in court in november 1972 he said that even  in the 
 last two or three days , we ve had to do two hysterectomies for gangrenous uteri as a 
 result of soap injections. 
  complications from abortion were the number one issue facing his unit : in the 
 first eight months of 1973 , 934 cases of  complicated abortion were admitted to king 
 edward viii , of which 354 had been septic .
he said ,  we can only admit the hard core of 
 complicated abortion cases because of restricted bed space. 
  as a consequence of this experience crichton concluded that the law on abortion was 
 unrealistic and outmoded . in july 1970
he gave a speech on abortion at the university of 
 natal where he declared : [ t]he struggle for emancipation from this bondage ( of legal and 
 religious condemnation ) , to have a fertility franchise for women constitutes one of the 
 major challenges of our time .
my crusade for this goal is inspired not only ideologically , 
 but also as a result of my personal contact with the human tragedies which result from our 
 present system , especially the consequences of illegal abortion .
to crichton  this problem assumes proportions which render a fight for its eradication an 
 inescapable duty. true to form , therefore , he did not keep his opinion to himself . 
 beginning in the late 1960s he began calling for law reform and
very quickly became the 
 country s most visible and outspoken medical advocate of abortion on demand , telling an 
 audience in 1970  we must remain dauntless that there can be no compromise in this 
 struggle to achieve the ultimate ideal that every woman should be the captain of her 
 womb. 
  a radical in a conservative profession , he became a self - described 
just a few months before his arrest 
 crichton called for abortion law reform at the annual meeting of the south african society 
 of obstetricians and gynaecologists ( sasog ) . 
 
james watts , aged 41 at the time of his arrest in 1972 , was a complex man with a vastly 
 different background from crichton s .
born in cape town in 1931 , watts grew up on a farm 
 in kraaifontein .
his mother had once been a schoolteacher in namibia but was a 
 stay - at - home mother when he grew up ; his father had lost his business making refrigerator 
 cabinets during the depression after which his parents managed a convenience store on 
 their farm .
watts had eight years of public schooling and moved to durban in 1953 where he 
 worked for five years as a fire fighter on the railways . in 1961
watts says that while working on the railways a 
 co - worker urged him to do more with his life . 
he said to me  you must educate yourself , 
 read reader s digest from front to back. an extremely intelligent man , 
 watts would undoubtedly have been a professional of some kind , probably a doctor or a 
 veterinarian , if he had been able to pursue an education .
his motivation for becoming an 
 abortionist appears very similar to that of other excellent clandestine abortionists , such 
 as the american ruth barnett who had an incredibly successful and lucrative abortion 
 clinic in oregon from 1918 to 1968 .
barnett s biographer rickie solinger , writes that her 
  restlessness , her intellect , and her belief in her own capabilities fuelled her desire 
 to become a first - rate abortionist . 
 
watts was an independent thinker and seems to have been instinctively subversive 
 ( though never interested in politics ) , and his contempt for apartheid morality combined 
 with his sharp intellect , fascination with biology , and ambitiousness made it easy for him 
 to live a double life as an employee of shell and a  criminal abortionist .
a 
 friend whose girlfriend was pregnant was looking for an abortionist and watts told him he 
 should just do the abortion himself .
i did 
 it myself. 
  he studied as much as he could beforehand , looking for relevant medical literature 
 in the library , bookstalls and at cna ( a south african chain of bookstores ) , and claims 
 there were  mountains of literature available , there have been mountains of articles and 
 books on abortion dating back to plato. after performing his first abortion his friend s 
 sister came to him for the procedure .  after that it became easier and thus began his 
 career as an abortionist .
watts became a highly skilled and meticulous abortionist , which is why crichton referred 
 the teenagers and young women needing abortions to him ( see below ) ; during his trial 
 doctors said they were 
i was very sterile conscious , he said , knowing there was the possibility of 
 infection : while growing up in the cape he knew abortionists who used the syringe method , 
 mostly retired white nurses , and girls who became ill afterwards .
he said that , like his 
 clients , he was always nervous when performing abortions because he was intensely aware of 
 what could go wrong and knew there was always the possibility that he could be arrested . 
 determined to avoid medical and legal trouble , from the beginning he only used the far 
 safer method of inserting sterilised catheters .
he used urinary catheters , bought from a 
 contact who supplied pharmacies , and always  shaved girls anywhere where hair could touch 
 the catheter to prevent infection , or else told the girls to shave themselves. he had his 
 own supply of antibiotics for patients who could not obtain any ( obtained from the same 
 contact ) , sterilised his equipment beforehand , and sealed off catheters after insertion 
 with sterile cotton wool dipped in hibitane ( a disinfectant ) .
he also told girls to obtain 
 a medical follow - up , instructing them to wait until there was significant bleeding ( so 
 that the miscarriage could not be stopped ) and then go to a doctor for a dilation and 
 curettage ( d&c ) to ensure the abortion was complete and avoid infection .
watts 
  cut - off point for performing abortions was four months of pregnancy because after that 
 abortions  are more dangerous. watts is an intriguing figure .
he was a self - taught abortionist wholly unlike the 
 stereotype of the unscrupulous and dangerous operator often invoked by doctors and liberal 
 feminists furious about the horrific consequences of criminalising abortion , a negative 
 image reinforced by the occasional prosecution of untrained abortionists , usually women , 
 after the deaths of their clients led to discovery . 
 
the abortion business for money and added that he saw 
 no difference in that regard between himself and trained medical doctors like crichton . 

indeed , watts took pride in his professionalism and considered himself an ethical , 
 non - judgmental practitioner ; even crichton referred to watts 
patients at one point 
 during the trial ( see below ) . as watts told the court ,  what motivated me was to protect 
 girls
i have helped from going to other abortionists that use syringes and knitting 
 needles as i have often seen terrible consequences from their work  .
i knew somebody had 
 to help them. 
  he says he performed abortions to help 
good girls who were in trouble , he said , 
  bad girls knew how to prevent pregnancy . 
 
( watts himself was a father ; at the time of his arrest he was married with two 
 sons aged 13 and 15 . )
watts performed abortions on  all kinds of women. most clients were 
 white , about 60% afrikaans and 40% english . although he did occasionally do abortions on 
 indian and coloured girls 
 pregnancy knew no colour barrier , they were all girls in 
 need  segregation under apartheid and his acceptance of it ensured he mainly came into 
 contact with other whites .
his clients generally paid with cash , although he accepted cheques , and he 
 consulted his own version of a sliding scale that reflected his moral worldview when 
 charging fees .
for most girls and women he charged the same as crichton , i.e. usually 
 between r60 and r80 , which he considered fair because in addition to being an expert who 
 deserved to make the same wage as a doctor he was operating entirely outside the law .
he 
 says he charged nurses and prostitutes less and sometimes nothing at all because as 
 working women their jobs were at stake .
he also charged less , if anything , to help police 
 officers girlfriends , undoubtedly because it was in his interest to have friendly 
 relations with police .
watts reputation reached women and doctors beyond durban , and word - of - mouth , as was so 
 commonly the case with abortionists willing to break the law , was the means by which 
 information about him circulated .
he says himself ,  the more i did , the more my reputation 
 spread by word of mouth , and several doctors , some as far away as cape town , referred some 
 patients in need to me. the number of clients varied from a few per month to a few per 
 week ; requests often came after holidays .
one teenager learned of watts from a woman she 
 met at the local movie theatre .
another client , from east london , said a 
 friend - of - a - friend from durban told her about him .
he also had a contact in south west 
 africa ( namibia )  who flew in a few girls .
one was an afrikaans girl whose father was a 
 preacher ; she said her dad would kill her if he found out she was pregnant .
she threatened 
 to kill herself by jumping off a building if i did nt help her so i did not have much 
 choice. he never asked clients for personal information and kept no records but recalls a 
 host of dramatic stories .
one afrikaans woman flew up from cape town and we 
 met in a car park as arranged and she was wearing a veil .
i never interrogated or questioned their identity 
 [ sic ] , i did not wish to embarrass them .
i could only speculate , but ( she 
 was ) definitely upper bracket. he reports that sometimes it was more affordable or 
 convenient for women to bring him to them .
he was flown to cape town and johannesburg by 
 clients and went twice to kruger national park to perform abortions on women ostensibly on 
 holiday .
there was no 
 feminist movement in south africa in the 1960s and watts had no contacts outside south 
 africa .
however , evidence given by teenagers and young women conveys the image of a 
 diligent and sympathetic practitioner .
for example , one teenager testified that she came 
 to durban alone for an abortion and watts met her at her hotel to perform the procedure . 

however , the hotel did not have hot water ,  so he said , 
oh well then he would have to 
 take me to his house as we had nowhere else to go , and drove her to his home where he 
 sterilised his equipment , took her to his bedroom and inserted the catheter .
afterwards 
 his wife gave her a cup of tea before he drove her back to her hotel .
the next day he 
 picked her up and drove her to a clinic for a d&c  where he did all the talking 
 for me. after her procedure she took a taxi to the hotel where she was met by watts who 
 stopped by to  see how i was , just as i arrived back  .
he came upstairs with me to my 
 bedroom , and he had a drink , and he stayed for a little while and then he left. 
  he would commonly allow girls to stay overnight at his downtown flat purchased for 
 his practice while they waited to miscarry and sometimes had drinks with the girls and/or 
 their boyfriends after inserting the catheter .
one boyfriend said the atmosphere in watts 
 flat was  very friendly. a young woman described how watts prepared his instruments and 
 inserted a catheter , then 
watts had 
 another drink together while i did exercises in the room. 
  ( she did not explain what kind of exercises . ) occasionally watts impersonated 
 girls fathers or boyfriends when calling doctors to schedule d&cs , 
  and at times he adopted the role of moral guide , 
strongly advising one young 
 woman , for example , against marrying a young man who admitted impregnating another girl . 

 he said that i should nt marry a man like that , she testified in court . 
 
in another case a boyfriend reported returning to watts flat after the catheter 
 had been inserted and found watts waiting for him .
then , seemingly empathising with the 
 girl and expressing what he imagined to be her feelings , watts made an extraordinary 
 statement :  what us poor women have to go through for you men. 
  during the trial watts lawyer asked a mother who had arranged her daughter s 
 abortion if she was satisfied with watts treatment and she replied , 
derk crichton qualified as a doctor in 1944 at the university of cape town ( uct ) , where 
 his father e.c .
crichton held the chair in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology 
 for many years . 
 
he earned a first class in surgery at uct , obtained a doctor of philosophy in 
 radiological gynaecology and obstetrics in 1952 from oxford , and became in 1954 one of the 
 first clinical professors at the medical school at the university of natal in durban . 
 
at the age of 32 he took up the position of chair of the university of natal s 
 department of gynaecology and obstetrics . at the time of his arrest in 1972
crichton was 
 managing the gynaecology and obstetrics ward located at the king edward viii hospital , 
 built in 1936 and the teaching hospital of the university s medical school for 
  non - europeans. the hospital managed the delivery of 23  000 african babies a year and , 
 with 200 beds , was at the time the third largest such ward in the world . 
 
he became a fellow of the royal 
 college of surgeons of edinburgh in 1953 and a fellow of the royal college of 
 obstetricians and gynaecologists in 1957 . 
 
he was awarded the blair - bell lectureship by the latter in 1965 for outstanding 
 research and in 1967 won the hamilton - maynard medal for the best south african medical 
 publication of the year , an article describing his method of repairing ureteric 
 fistulae . 
  in 1969
he became the external examiner for the royal college of obstetricians and 
 gynaecologists ; this was in addition to the english - speaking south african universities 
 and the university of salisbury in rhodesia ( zimbabwe ) . from 1967 until he left south 
 africa in 1974 he performed all sex - realignment operations ( male to female ) in natal . 
 
at the time of his arrest in 1972 he was president of the regional council of the 
 royal college of gynaecologists and obstetricians in south africa . 
 
as an indian patient embarking on 
 the process of sex reassignment said about crichton ,  he had an unshakeable confidence in 
 what he was doing which seemed to boost the spirits of those he came in contact 
 with. 
  an indian doctor , formerly a student of crichton s , recalled ,  derk crichton was 
 like a god to us , we would queue for his lectures which for us were like the ten 
 commandments .
he was so sure of his medicine that if he told us to treat a patient a 
 certain way , regardless of what the textbooks said , we did it  . 
  he was also infamous for his temper and inability to 
suffer fools. 
  bongiwe bolani , who worked as a nurse at king edward viii hospital in the 
 mid-1960s , remembers crichton as arrogant and terrifying : he was a horrible man .
he screamed , he shouted , he humiliated us , made you feel like imbeciles .
other people , older white males , terrified me from that time for many years .
one of 
 crichton s former students is dr sam mokgokong , south africa s first african gynaecologist 
 and instructor in a medical school , and he recalls crichton with huge affection , saying 
  he s like a father to me , he took me up , he made me. he says crichton was colour - blind 
 and  even - handed with his students , meaning he treated his white and black students the 
 same . 
 
even bolani recalls crichton urging black nurses to obtain further training so 
 they could be promoted to higher positions .
she  took up this educational challenge and 
 eventually became a matron . 
  at both addington hospital ( for whites and coloureds in segregated wards ) and king edward 
 viii hospital ( for africans ) , as well as in private practice , crichton was constantly 
 confronted with the effects of clandestine abortion , telling an audience in 1970 ,  were i 
 a member of the clergy i might say that abortion is my 
i know more about criminal abortions in durban than anyone else  it would be 
 extraordinary if i didnt. 
  he estimated that during his eighteen years at king edward viii and mccord zulu 
 hospital between 1954 and 1972 he had treated an astounding 40  000 african 
 women suffering the effects of illegal abortion   at least one died every 
 month . 
 
some girls and women he treated had procured abortions on themselves but most had 
 gone to untrained abortionists , the vast majority of which were what he called 
soap 
 injectors because they injected liquid soap into women s uteri , a dangerous method that 
 often caused infection or death as a result of air or soap entering the blood stream .
the 
 method was popular with clandestine abortionists because it was relatively easy and could 
 be employed in one visit .
he estimated the soap - injection method killed one in every 200 
 women and left another 5% sterile . in court in november 1972 he said that even  in the 
 last two or three days , we ve had to do two hysterectomies for gangrenous uteri as a 
 result of soap injections. 
  complications from abortion were the number one issue facing his unit : in the 
 first eight months of 1973 , 934 cases of  complicated abortion were admitted to king 
 edward viii , of which 354 had been septic .
he said ,  we can only admit the hard core of 
 complicated abortion cases because of restricted bed space. 
  as a consequence of this experience crichton concluded that the law on abortion was 
 unrealistic and outmoded . in july 1970
he gave a speech on abortion at the university of 
 natal where he declared : [ t]he struggle for emancipation from this bondage ( of legal and 
 religious condemnation ) , to have a fertility franchise for women constitutes one of the 
 major challenges of our time .
my crusade for this goal is inspired not only ideologically , 
 but also as a result of my personal contact with the human tragedies which result from our 
 present system , especially the consequences of illegal abortion .
to crichton  this problem assumes proportions which render a fight for its eradication an 
 inescapable duty. true to form , therefore , he did not keep his opinion to himself . 
 beginning in the late 1960s he began calling for law reform and
very quickly became the 
 country s most visible and outspoken medical advocate of abortion on demand , telling an 
 audience in 1970  we must remain dauntless that there can be no compromise in this 
 struggle to achieve the ultimate ideal that every woman should be the captain of her 
 womb. 
  a radical in a conservative profession , he became a self - described 
just a few months before his arrest 
 crichton called for abortion law reform at the annual meeting of the south african society 
 of obstetricians and gynaecologists ( sasog ) . 

james watts , aged 41 at the time of his arrest in 1972 , was a complex man with a vastly 
 different background from crichton s . born in cape town in 1931
his mother had once been a schoolteacher in namibia but was a 
 stay - at - home mother when he grew up ; his father had lost his business making refrigerator 
 cabinets during the depression after which his parents managed a convenience store on 
 their farm .
watts had eight years of public schooling and moved to durban in 1953 where he 
 worked for five years as a fire fighter on the railways . in 1961
watts says that while working on the railways a 
 co - worker urged him to do more with his life . 
he said to me  you must educate yourself , 
 read reader s digest from front to back. an extremely intelligent man , 
 watts would undoubtedly have been a professional of some kind , probably a doctor or a 
 veterinarian , if he had been able to pursue an education .
his motivation for becoming an 
 abortionist appears very similar to that of other excellent clandestine abortionists , such 
 as the american ruth barnett who had an incredibly successful and lucrative abortion 
 clinic in oregon from 1918 to 1968 .
barnett s biographer rickie solinger , writes that her 
  restlessness , her intellect , and her belief in her own capabilities fuelled her desire 
 to become a first - rate abortionist . 
 
watts was an independent thinker and seems to have been instinctively subversive 
 ( though never interested in politics ) , and his contempt for apartheid morality combined 
 with his sharp intellect , fascination with biology , and ambitiousness made it easy for him 
 to live a double life as an employee of shell and a  criminal abortionist .
a 
 friend whose girlfriend was pregnant was looking for an abortionist and watts told him he 
 should just do the abortion himself .
i did 
 it myself. 
  he studied as much as he could beforehand , looking for relevant medical literature 
 in the library , bookstalls and at cna ( a south african chain of bookstores ) , and claims 
 there were  mountains of literature available , there have been mountains of articles and 
 books on abortion dating back to plato. after performing his first abortion his friend s 
 sister came to him for the procedure .
 after that it became easier and thus began his 
 career as an abortionist .
watts became a highly skilled and meticulous abortionist , which is why crichton referred 
 the teenagers and young women needing abortions to him ( see below ) ; during his trial 
 doctors said they were 
i was very sterile conscious , he said , knowing there was the possibility of 
 infection : while growing up in the cape he knew abortionists who used the syringe method , 
 mostly retired white nurses , and girls who became ill afterwards .
he said that , like his 
 clients , he was always nervous when performing abortions because he was intensely aware of 
 what could go wrong and knew there was always the possibility that he could be arrested . 
 determined to avoid medical and legal trouble , from the beginning he only used the far 
 safer method of inserting sterilised catheters .
he used urinary catheters , bought from a 
 contact who supplied pharmacies , and always  shaved girls anywhere where hair could touch 
 the catheter to prevent infection , or else told the girls to shave themselves. he had his 
 own supply of antibiotics for patients who could not obtain any ( obtained from the same 
 contact ) , sterilised his equipment beforehand , and sealed off catheters after insertion 
 with sterile cotton wool dipped in hibitane ( a disinfectant ) .
he also told girls to obtain 
 a medical follow - up , instructing them to wait until there was significant bleeding ( so 
 that the miscarriage could not be stopped ) and then go to a doctor for a dilation and 
 curettage ( d&c ) to ensure the abortion was complete and avoid infection .
watts 
  cut - off point for performing abortions was four months of pregnancy because after that 
 abortions 
he was a self - taught abortionist wholly unlike the 
 stereotype of the unscrupulous and dangerous operator often invoked by doctors and liberal 
 feminists furious about the horrific consequences of criminalising abortion , a negative 
 image reinforced by the occasional prosecution of untrained abortionists , usually women , 
 after the deaths of their clients led to discovery . 
 
the abortion business for money and added that he saw 
 no difference in that regard between himself and trained medical doctors like crichton . 

indeed , watts took pride in his professionalism and considered himself an ethical , 
 non - judgmental practitioner ; even crichton referred to watts 
patients at one point 
 during the trial ( see below ) . as watts told the court , 
what motivated me was to protect 
 girls i have helped from going to other abortionists that use syringes and knitting 
 needles as i have often seen terrible consequences from their work  .
i knew somebody had 
 to help them. 
  he says he performed abortions to help 
good girls who were in trouble , he said , 
  bad girls knew how to prevent pregnancy . 
 
( watts himself was a father ; at the time of his arrest he was married with two 
 sons aged 13 and 15 . )
watts performed abortions on  all kinds of women. most clients were 
 white , about 60% afrikaans and 40% english . although he did occasionally do abortions on 
 indian and coloured girls 
 pregnancy knew no colour barrier , they were all girls in 
 need  segregation under apartheid and his acceptance of it ensured he mainly came into 
 contact with other whites .
his clients generally paid with cash , although he accepted cheques , and he 
 consulted his own version of a sliding scale that reflected his moral worldview when 
 charging fees . for most girls and women he charged the same as crichton , i.e. usually 
 between r60 and r80 , which he considered fair because in addition to being an expert who 
 deserved to make the same wage as a doctor he was operating entirely outside the law .
he 
 says he charged nurses and prostitutes less and sometimes nothing at all because as 
 working women their jobs were at stake .
he also charged less , if anything , to help police 
 officers girlfriends , undoubtedly because it was in his interest to have friendly 
 relations with police .
watts reputation reached women and doctors beyond durban , and word - of - mouth , as was so 
 commonly the case with abortionists willing to break the law , was the means by which 
 information about him circulated .
he says himself ,  the more i did , the more my reputation 
 spread by word of mouth , and several doctors , some as far away as cape town , referred some 
 patients in need to me. the number of clients varied from a few per month to a few per 
 week ; requests often came after holidays .
one teenager learned of watts from a woman she 
 met at the local movie theatre .
another client , from east london , said a 
 friend - of - a - friend from durban told her about him .
he also had a contact in south west 
 africa ( namibia )  who flew in a few girls .
one was an afrikaans girl whose father was a 
 preacher ; she said her dad would kill her if he found out she was pregnant .
she threatened 
 to kill herself by jumping off a building if i did nt help her so i did not have much 
 choice. he never asked clients for personal information and kept no records but recalls a 
 host of dramatic stories .
one afrikaans woman flew up from cape town and we 
 met in a car park as arranged and she was wearing a veil .
i never interrogated or questioned their identity 
 [ sic ] , i did not wish to embarrass them .
i could only speculate , but ( she 
 was ) definitely upper bracket. he reports that sometimes it was more affordable or 
 convenient for women to bring him to them .
he was flown to cape town and johannesburg by 
 clients and went twice to kruger national park to perform abortions on women ostensibly on 
 holiday .
there was no 
 feminist movement in south africa in the 1960s and watts had no contacts outside south 
 africa .
however , evidence given by teenagers and young women conveys the image of a 
 diligent and sympathetic practitioner .
for example , one teenager testified that she came 
 to durban alone for an abortion and watts met her at her hotel to perform the procedure . 

however , the hotel did not have hot water ,  so he said , 
oh well then he would have to 
 take me to his house as we had nowhere else to go , and drove her to his home where he 
 sterilised his equipment , took her to his bedroom and inserted the catheter .
afterwards 
 his wife gave her a cup of tea before he drove her back to her hotel .
the next day he 
 picked her up and drove her to a clinic for a d&c  where he did all the talking 
 for me. after her procedure she took a taxi to the hotel where she was met by watts who 
 stopped by to  see how i was , just as i arrived back  .
he came upstairs with me to my 
 bedroom , and he had a drink , and he stayed for a little while and then he left. 
  he would commonly allow girls to stay overnight at his downtown flat purchased for 
 his practice while they waited to miscarry and sometimes had drinks with the girls and/or 
 their boyfriends after inserting the catheter .
one boyfriend said the atmosphere in watts 
 flat was  very friendly. a young woman described how watts prepared his instruments and 
 inserted a catheter , then 
watts had 
 another drink together while i did exercises in the room. 
  ( she did not explain what kind of exercises . )
occasionally watts impersonated 
 girls fathers or boyfriends when calling doctors to schedule d&cs , 
  and at times he adopted the role of moral guide , 
strongly advising one young 
 woman , for example , against marrying a young man who admitted impregnating another girl . 

 he said that i should nt marry a man like that , she testified in court . 
 
in another case a boyfriend reported returning to watts flat after the catheter 
 had been inserted and found watts waiting for him .
then , seemingly empathising with the 
 girl and expressing what he imagined to be her feelings , watts made an extraordinary 
 statement :  what us poor women have to go through for you men. 
  during the trial watts lawyer asked a mother who had arranged her daughter s 
 abortion if she was satisfied with watts treatment and she replied , 
as a rare outspoken liberal on the controversial issue of abortion crichton attracted a 
 great deal of publicity for his radical views .
consequently teenagers and young women from 
 around the country approached him for abortions . as he put it ,
his public comments accounted 
 for the  flocks of young women coming to him for help .
 since i have started lecturing  on 
 the subject , he said ,  the numbers have swelled tremendously. 
  by the early 1970s he was confronted 
almost daily with  the unmarried girl with 
 the unwanted pregnancy pleading for abortion. in addition , doctors unwilling to perform 
 abortions referred their pregnant patients to him , and he often helped young women  when 
 other doctors have refused to do so .
i have often had a great deal of trouble getting other 
 doctors to agree that an abortion is necessary. 
  ( two of the teenagers who testified said they were told about crichton by their 
 family doctors . )
crichton did not relish the flood of young women seeking abortions for he 
 was already 
he 
 therefore repeatedly told girls that doing abortions was  out of the question regardless of 
 the amount of money they offered .
yet he realized girls were determined to have an abortion 
 no matter the risks , as many subsequently confirmed in court . 
many of them were in tears 
 and  averred that they would commit suicide if a solution could not be found .
i usually 
 experienced frustration in finding that most of what i was saying to the patients was 
  passing in one ear and out of the other. 
  knowing full well from grim experience that girls would have no difficulty in finding 
 abortionists 
 i was terrified that they would go to a soap injector 
   he  felt it my duty to safeguard them to the best of my capabilities. 
  he devised a system that would assist the girls and , he believed , shield him from 
 prosecution .
the common law on abortion prohibited a doctor s induction of 
 a miscarriage but allowed for treatment in cases of miscarriages already 
 begun . 
 
so he started to unofficially refer girls to abortionists whom he knew used 
 sterilised catheters , what he called the  tube inserters , to initiate a miscarriage , along 
 with firm instruction that they should visit a doctor immediately afterwards for a 
 d&c in order to ensure that the abortion was complete .
most tube inserters were 
 indian but , much to his irritation , the majority of white patients preferred white 
 abortionists because they thought indians were 
unclean. regardless of his assurances , most 
 white girls wanted a white abortionist , so he referred them to watts .
they 
 told him that a man named watts was a careful and effective abortionist who took precautions 
 to avoid infection , such as shaving pubic hair , and whose patients never fell ill .
watts patients told me that he inserted a sterile soft rubber 
 catheter with extreme gentleness and great regard to sterility. 
  he said  i ve never seen a case ( of watts ) go wrong , 
  in fact his  cases seem to be doing a jolly side [ sight ] better than the others . and 

we noted this over the months that these patients did not seem to have the complications the 
 others had. 
  in spite of never meeting and their vast differences in class and social status , the 
 two men developed a kind of working relationship .
crichton gave girls watts telephone 
 number , usually a prescription for antibiotics to take in advance of the procedure to 
 minimise the risk of infection , and advice to return to him or another doctor for a 
 d&c after watts had induced bleeding .
conversely , girls who first contacted watts 
 were sent by him to crichton for a prescription for antibiotics before returning to him for 
 the miscarriage , after which he insisted they return to crichton for a d&c .
crichton was certain this 
 method protected him ; in court he said confidently , 
indeed , he was so assured of his safety that he kept case records with detailed 
 notes on patients that , ironically , would ultimately help the prosecution convict him .
his 
 confidence was a combination of his naturally optimistic outlook , navet , and arrogance 
 derived from his privileged status in his profession and society . when warned by a colleague 
 that he would get into trouble if he continued 
i ve got nothing to worry about. 
  his wife reported that he was  thoroughly shocked when the police arrived at his 
 home early one morning to arrest him . 
  for girls and women , the crichton 
watts system was safe , rapid and relatively respectful of 
 their privacy and dignity .
in contrast , staff at hospital casualty departments were often 
 prying , judgmental , and sometimes openly hostile to girls and women wanting help with 
 incomplete or botched abortions .
for example , women who went to the addington hospital 
 casualty department after abortionists had induced miscarriages , would spend  many hours 
 waiting for a d&c , during which time they were frequently questioned  in detail 
 about their abortions . 
 
cross examined 
 there , and crichton said girls complained that the nursing staff and doctors embarrassed 
 them by gossiping amongst themselves about their private lives . 
 
in fact , he said girls who were miscarrying  refused with increasing frequency to 
 go directly to casualty at addington hospital and would instead contact him directly to 
 arrange their d&cs .
at the beginning of 1972 the police targeted crichton for prosecution ; ultimately watts 
 became significant to authorities only because of his association with crichton .
alleged country - wide abortion network began in 1969 . 
  at some point the natal provincial council conducted an investigation into abortions 

being performed in provincial hospitals and handed their findings to the attorney - general , 
 who in turn notified the durban police who apparently did not get very far with their 
 investigation . 
 
kobus visser , chief of the criminal investigation department ( cid ) in durban , was 
 determined to uncover clandestine abortion , however , so he sent out a call around the 
 country for an officer to take charge of the investigation and sergeant dan matthee ( b. 
 1925 ) was hired . in a recent interview matthee
claimed the minister of health himself was 
 responsible for targeting crichton ( though he would not say which one ) .
he said the minister 
 had been at an international conference where crichton had spoken out against south africa 
 and as a consequence he wanted 
something done. 
  the story is plausible because the np was intensely conscious of international 
 criticism of south africa . since 1960 , the year of the sharpeville massacre when police shot 
 at least sixty - nine unarmed african protesters ( many in the back as they were fleeing from 
 police attack ) , the united nations had repeatedly censured south africa for its racist 
 policies and called for cultural and economic sanctions .
if crichton was openly criticising 
 south africa overseas it is entirely believable , given the regime s vicious retaliation 
 against previous critics , the np would take revenge upon him at home . 
 
what is certain is that convicting a highly respected doctor like crichton for 
 providing abortions would be a means by which to instil fear into the hearts of other 
 doctors and thereby stem white young women s access to medical abortionists ( discussed 
 further below ) .
carte 
 blanche and apparently unlimited funds , for ultimately he and his staff took thousands of 
 witness statements . 
 
he proved to be as effective as visser ( and his political superiors ? ) had hoped , and 
 as a consequence of his investigation he earned the nickname 
according to crichton s allies matthee was obsessed with convicting crichton , a 
 contention that watts strengthened in a statement to the trial judge in which he said 
 matthee threatened to   put the screws on me unless i agreed to incriminate 
 prof . 
i have been terrorised by major mathee [ sic ] that he will 
 ensure that i receive a long jail sentence unless i give him a statement according to his 
 instructions  .
consequently i have lost confidence in the impartiality of the justice of the 
 court which is to try me . 
 
in addition to his extreme dedication to his job as a police officer , matthee s fixation on 
 crichton was likely fuelled by class and ethnic resentments that have genealogies dating 
 back to the south africa war ( 18991902 ) and the subsequent enmity between english and 
 afrikaans south africans .
poor white afrikaans family in de poort , a 
 government settlement town in the cape , whereas crichton came from a distinguished 
 english - speaking family of means .
i like 
 challenges , especially when it comes to people with high qualifications and many letters 
 after their last names. he acknowledged that crichton had a reputation for being an 
 excellent doctor and said even his own sister had visited him ( not for an abortion ) but he 
 found the man 
he 
 directed hospitals and nursing homes in durban to check their records and report procedures 
 that could have been abortions , and then interviewed doctors and operating theatre nurses 
 who assisted or witnessed crichton s operations .
at least one nurse who worked at st 
 augustine s hospital described a number of crichton s cases to the matron as 
crichton told his lawyer that the nurse probably did so  out of annoyance at my  ticking her 
 off by calling her in to work in order to attend to a young woman in need of a 
 d&c .
he also admitted berating the nurse for her  inefficiency and obstructionism , 
 which probably annoyed her further ; in hindsight crichton would have been wise to avoid 
 alienating nurses , the very people who knew better than most about his abortion - related 
 activities .
( according to watts , it was also a nurse who alerted matthee to his involvement 
 with crichton . )
next matthee travelled around the country locating and interviewing girls 
 and women . in total , the police contacted  at least 2000 suspected cases whose names and 
 addresses were found in hospital records , and drew up a list of 400 women to be 
shocked to receive telephone calls from 
 local police asking them to come to the station for an interview with him .
one said she was 
 afraid of matthee and that he had not allowed her to read over her statement .
matthee had threatened that unless she testified her 
 father would lose his ( government ) job , 
  a claim also made in court by crichton s defence . 
 
the boyfriend of the girl caught leaving watts building on the evening of his 
 arrest said matthee threatened to 
lock him up unless he gave a statement . when called in 
 for an interview he brought a friend who was an articled law clerk with him to the police 
 station .
matthee told the boyfriend he considered him an accomplice and wanted him to make a 
 statement but his friend advised him not to unless matthee gave him an indemnity from 
 prosecution .
this angered matthee who allegedly told the boyfriend ,  i will lock you up and 
 i will keep you locked up until you make a statement. 
  after he threatened the young man that the attorney - general might charge him as an 
 accomplice he admitted that he helped his girlfriend obtain an abortion and signed a 
 statement . 
 
matthee admitted in court that he took  98% of witnesses statements himself and 
 even re - interviewed witnesses who had been interviewed by other officers . 
 
watts was arrested first . on 9 june , 1972 three plain clothes officers , one of which was 
 matthee , watched a young couple enter watts building at about 7:00  p.m. when they emerged 
 an hour later the police arrested them and took the couple back to watts flat , which was 
 searched , and watts was arrested .
( the young woman was taken to a district surgeon who 
 removed the catheter watts had just inserted , which was then taken into evidence . 
 )
crichton was arrested on the morning of 21 june 1972 , at the same time that a 
 colleague of his , dr angini maharaj , was also arrested on suspicion of procuring abortions . 

the police seized their medical records and then compared the names found in crichton s and 
 maharaj s records to those listed in hospital and nursing home records as having had 
 d&cs . in june 1972
i thought i had a 
 very strong case , and masters decided to hold not one , but two trials for 
 crichton , the first to include  the easy witnesses who had given affidavits ; the second 
 trial  the less reliable witnesses and some ( who ) would nt talk. the first trial included 
 watts and took place in november and december 1972 . the second trial , at which he was tried 
 alongside maharaj , took place in durban regional court in march 1973 , an event i discuss 
 elsewhere . 
 
( during the second trial dr maharaj reported that she had  refused an offer of 
 indemnity from prosecution if she gave evidence against prof . 
crichton because of her 
 loyalty and high regard for him. 
 ) crichton s lawyers and friends believed at the time , and still do , that the reason 
 for holding two trials was to drag out legal proceedings for as long as possible in order to 
 cause him maximum financial and professional hardship ; a reasonable conclusion in light of 
 the significant time and money it cost him to mount two legal defences while attempting to 
 maintain his practice and teach at the university of natal .
the state charged crichton and watts , with the following : having been approached to procure 
 an abortion , accused no .
1 recommended that someone else had to start the bleeding in the 
 private parts of each female concerned , for which purpose he referred her to accused no .
a dilatation and curettage was performed by 
 accused no . 1 subsequently to complete the abortion  .
it is unknown to the state when the 
 common purpose was formed or whether there was an express agreement between the two accused , 
 but it can , however , be inferred from their conduct that there was a common purpose and that 
 they acted in concert . 
 
the girls and young women who had procured 
 abortions were considered accomplices along with the people who had helped them  

boyfriends , brothers , girlfriends , parents  and all were pressed into testifying in 
 exchange for indemnity from prosecution .
the twenty - six young women called to testify had 
 been between the ages of 17 and 23 at the time of their abortions , all unmarried .
about half 
 were english - speaking south africans and half were afrikaans - speaking .
crucially , all were 
 white and it was their whiteness that provoked authorities to intervene in 
 the clandestine abortion industry in the first place .
major problem in his unit at the king edward viii hospital , 
  which served africans and treated the greatest number of septic abortions in south 
 africa at the time . 
 
yet there was never an attempt by police to investigate the extensive , deadly 
 abortion industry in relation to black women .
the np was concerned only with white girls , 
 suggesting that , as signifiers of whites supposedly superior morality , they were expected 
 to be chaste and obedient .
every day both the  white and  non - white courtroom 
 galleries were 
packed with spectators , and all the national newspapers as well as the 
 local press covered in voyeuristic terms what was called
 south africa s most sensational 
 abortion trial. the young women were objects of fascination and the press tried to read 
 their appearance for signs of immorality ; one newspaper described many of the girls as 
  attractive mini - skirted young women. 
  indeed , the courtroom had what solinger , in her study of the prosecution of american 
 abortionists , calls a  cryptoporno atmosphere , for two reasons .
first , the spectacle was 
 made sexually tantalising by crichton himself  a handsome , athletic , dapper man of 52 whose 
 stylish attire was regularly noted by reporters .
furthermore , crichton , already twice 
 divorced , was regularly accompanied to court by two much younger , unmarried women , his 
 
attractive secretary linda redman and his live - in girlfriend susan pohl , age 26 . 
 
the young women s presence , photographed and commented upon in the press , heightened 
 the fascination with crichton and the trial generally .
the visibility of middle - aged , 
 respectable crichton , a divorcee and father of three children , living with a very beautiful 
 woman half his age added an exotic cache of sin , pleasure and glamour to the situation . 

moreover , crichton s defiant , thoroughly unrepentant attitude during the trial enhanced his 
 presence and audience fascination .
for example , when asked by the prosecutor , haasbroek , why 
 he did not inform the police of the names of criminal abortionists he knew of , he said , i do 
 not think it is my duty to act as a policeman .
haasbroek : yes but you must have known that 
 the police were investigating matters of this type .
haasbroek : but out 
 of your own accord you would nt give them the names ?
crichton : i do not regard it my duty as 
 a doctor to report to the police every time i find that a patient has had an abortion done 
 which is illegal . 
 
second , the prosecution humiliated the girls with embarrassing questions about their sex 
 lives , bodies and abortions . of an 18-year - old the judge asked  whether she had had 
 intercourse with her boyfriend ( she made the unsurprising admission that she had ) .
the 
 state s lawyer schutte asked a girl if there  was there anything irregular about your 
 breasts before she saw watts , and continued :  now what did mr .
schutte : where did he insert 
 this thing , you need nt be afraid .
q : judge : did he insert it 
 between your legs into your private parts ?
a : yes. 
  of another young woman the state prosecutor , haasbroek , asked questions about the 
 size of her breasts prior to the abortion . 
 
answer : he did nt 
 shave me , he just cut  cut the pubic hair with scissors .
haasbroek : yes ? answer : and then 
 he   but just then justice james intervened and asked , 
i m sorry , what did he cut with the 
 scissors? and haasbroek replied , 
oh your pubic 
 hair. 
  of a teenager who was 17 at the time of her abortion haasbroek asked , 
what did he 
 ( watts ) actually do with the tube and the wire ?
answer : into my virginia [ sic]. 
  many answers were so similar in phrasing that the defence accused the prosecution of 
 coaching the young women in order to illustrate that a  system had been devised by crichton 
 and watts . 
 
the magistrate presiding over the second trial noted that the girls  testified under 
 extreme stress and strain and were understandably nervous .
they were subjected to lengthy , 
 embarrassing , repetitive and sometimes torrid cross - examination. 
  some young women were so distressed by the questions they buckled on the stand .
for 
 example , one 19-year old girl at the first trial ,  broke down in the witness box , sobbing 
 loudly when asked to describe the abortion and , with 
her head bowed  was led from the 
 packed court to compose herself. 
  there was an exception .
one young woman was impervious to intimidation , and 
 rebellious , even surly while giving testimony .
she was unforthcoming and repeatedly claimed 
 she could not remember details about the abortion , in the process angering crichton s 
 lawyer , shaw , who subjected her to increasingly aggressive questioning .
clearly unafraid , 
 her tussle with shaw was entertaining to observers who sometimes laughed in court as they 
 witnessed the exchange between the two . 
 
significantly , in previous as well as contemporaneous trials of medical abortionists , white 
 girls and women were spared public shaming . in 1949 , during the preparatory inquiry in 
 advance of the prosecution of buchner and his employees working at the castle mansions 
 abortion clinic ( mentioned above ) , the identity of girls and women had been protected lest 
 they be embarrassed or even 
ruined by public exposure . displaying great concern for the 
 women s welfare the prosecutor had explained why the inquiry should be held in camera : the 
 crown will be calling women to give evidence , some of them unmarried , some married , but 
 their husbands do not know of any operation  . in certain cases these women
would be 
 seriously prejudiced , and perhaps their whole lives would be ruined if the facts were made 
 public .
these women would be required to testify about intimate sexual details , and they 
 have told the inquiring officer of their extreme reluctance to testify in open court .
the 
 magistrate agreed , saying with apparent sympathy that otherwise witnesses might not give 
 evidence with necessary frankness . 
  during the actual trial ,
at which an astonishing fifty - eight women testified , there 
 had been a publication ban placed on their names and personal details ( although this time 
 the press could attend court on condition they protect the women s identity ) ; the court even 
 provided female shorthand writers to transcribe evidence to spare the women discomfort . 
  and in july 1972 , just four months before crichton was prosecuted , an afrikaans 
 doctor named jurgen backeberg was prosecuted on sixteen counts of procuring abortion 
 and one charge of culpable homicide after the death of a 14-year old girl 
 following an abortion , and during his trial teenage girls and young women gave testimony 
 behind closed doors to protect their privacy . 
 
watts trial was exceptional , a show trial aimed at buttressing 
 apartheid culture by disciplining both 
wayward young white women and liberal members of 
 the medical profession . on judgment day ,
december 7 , the court was  sardine - packed hours before the judgment was 
 due to come down . 
 
 dozens of fashionably - dressed women  ranging from teenage to elderly  spilled over 
 the galleries and stood in the aisles to hear justice james verdict . 
 
one newspaper described how  spectators , white and black , crammed every available 
 space in the galleries and overflowed into the aisles .
city workers in safari suits and 
 overalls rubbed shoulders with elegantly dressed elderly women  some of whom have been 
 present throughout 
the trial. 
  crichton and watts bore the stress of waiting for the verdict very differently ; 
 indeed they were a study in contrasts , with each man s demeanour reflective of his class 
 position and status in society .
crichton appeared cheerful and confident :  smartly dressed 
 in an olive green suit , an orange shirt and matching tie , [ he ] chatted happily with his 
 lawyers and smilingly acknowledged the many nods of encouragement he received from 
 spectators. another newspaper reported ,  easily the most smartly dressed man present was 
 professor derk crichton , in vivid orange shirt and tie and an avocado green suit. 
  conversely , watts , who had no faith whatsoever in the justice system , was extremely 
 nervous . while awaiting the judgment he requested permission to go outside and smoke a 
 cigarette . a journalist who interviewed him just prior to the judgment observed ,  his hands 
 trembled  .
the strain of ten days in court was clear in his gestures , inability to 
 concentrate and sudden emotional outbursts. he said if he were jailed his family would be 
 
destitute. 
  justice james found both men guilty , crichton on sixteen counts and watts on twenty - four . 

the judge declared he found the duty to pass sentences on the men  one of agonizing 
 difficulty , for on the one hand the law had to be upheld but on the other hand 
the court 
 must take into account the tremendous pressures placed on medical men and those of lesser 
 skill by desperate women who feel their whole social and economic future is bound up in 
 getting rid of an unwanted pregnancy. bringing additional pressure to bear upon the 
 government , james also observed that  the situation regarding illegal abortions in this part 
 of the country appears to have become most serious , and appears to require some sort of 
 official action  and it is the function of the legislature to amend the law 
. 
  the sunday express headline of 10 december 1972 read :  judge 
 favours law reform on illegal abortions. in his judgment james s opinion about the two men could not have been more different ; a 
 clear reflection of his class - biased interpretation of their actions .
for the uneducated 
 watts he had no sympathy . though doctors in durban had expressed being 
amazed at the skill 
 displayed by watts in inducing abortions and witnesses had testified to his diligence and 
 kindness , the judge decided watts was a mercenary opportunist .
james did acknowledge watts 
  took pains about avoiding infection and  treated the women with consideration , but 
 nevertheless sentenced him to two years in prison , with one year conditionally 
 suspended . 
 
in the 1950s , for example , american 
 judges and prosecutors found the economic motive for performing abortions  particularly 
 disgusting ; in sexist societies it is seen as 
immoral for anyone to benefit from the 
 irresponsible sexual behaviour of a woman. 
  the lack of respect was mutual : watts later referred to james as  a pompous old 
 fart. 
  in sharp contrast the judge was greatly impressed by crichton , describing him as a 
 noble man with a history of tremendous service to the community . 
 
he believed crichton was compassionate , not greedy , and had acted only in the best 
 interest of his patients .
nevertheless , he said , given the existing law , his hands were tied 
 and knowing a criminal conviction would inevitably bring harm to crichton s stellar career 
 he fined him only r500 .
ironically , for 
 watts , the untrained abortionist justice james dismissed as simply greedy , imprisonment 
 merely imposed a temporary halt to his abortion business .
he served six months at durban 
 central prison and after his release immediately resumed performing abortions .
in fact , 
 watts was an abortionist for another 20  years . 
  because of the near - impossibility of procuring a legal abortion during the apartheid 
 era , south african women of all  races continued seeking the services of clandestine 
 abortionists .
as for crichton , a few months after the conviction he once again stood trial , 
 this time alongside dr angini maharaj . both were found guilty and subsequently struck off 
 the medical roll , which barred them from practicing and teaching medicine in south africa . 

crichton left south africa for swaziland in 
 1974 , one of few jurisdictions that would allow him to practice medicine , and repeatedly 
 applied for reinstatement to the medical roll .
he returned to south africa in 1977 after 
 reinstatement and opened a private practice , but his academic career was finished .
the prosecution of crichton and watts revealed with supreme clarity the contested nature of 
 the terrain of sex and reproduction in south africa during apartheid .
the trial heightened 
 the visibility of young white women s  errant sexuality , which intensified patriarchal 
 anxiety about the disintegration of the traditional family .
clearly , many  ordinary girls 
 were choosing to have pre - marital sex and avoid motherhood , and with the help of doctors 
 like crichton were finding ways to do so . in subsequent discussion and debate about abortion 
 leading up to the passage of the act the theme of the wayward white daughter was a 
 leitmotif . 
  at an official level the trial played a role , albeit indirectly ,
in the production of south 
 africa s first statutory law on abortion  the extremely restrictive abortion and 
 sterilisation act ( 1975 ) . reflecting the regime s double determination to police white 
 girls sexuality and the medical profession ,
the act contained so many byzantine limitations 
 and bureaucratic requirements for both women and doctors that obtaining a 
 legal abortion became all but impossible for the remainder of apartheid . 
  among the many new regulatory requirements put in place the law stipulated that a 
 doctor could perform an abortion only in a state - controlled institution after receiving 
 written permission from the official in charge , who then must submit the name of the doctor 
 to the minister of health within twenty - one days after the procedure .
doctors who performed 
 a suspiciously high number of abortions could then be investigated . during the debate in 
 parliament preceding the passage of the act , the minister of health , dr s.w .
van der merwe , 
 claimed with smugness this would help expose medical  snakes in the grass. 
  to abortionists , medical and non - medical alike , it must have seemed as if almost overnight 
 abortion transmogrified from a nominally criminal practice largely tolerated by police to a 
 serious criminal act . yet
two weeks after crichton s arrest the sunday 
 tribune found an abortionist in durban after just three hours of searching , and in 
 the two months after crichton and watts were convicted five women in the city died and at 
 least another 250 were admitted to hospital because of botched abortions . 
  the chilling effect on the medical profession , however , was immediate and considerable . 

doctors previously willing to perform abortions had learned the lesson that the government 
 wanted to teach them by seriously damaging the career of so eminent a doctor as crichton : 
 the state was powerful and relentless , able to spend seemingly unlimited funds to expose and 
 prosecute them . as a result
they became extremely wary of performing even 
 legal therapeutic abortions , never mind illegal ones . 

complaints were soon lodged that a medical abortion for what previously would have been 
 considered a legitimate reason was next to impossible to obtain . 
  in may 1974 an anonymous gynaecologist told a newspaper 
the police clampdown had 
 ended sympathetic doctors willingness to perform abortions , which had the dual effect of 
 eliminating from the field  those qualified medical practitioners who were prepared to 
 perform abortions safely and encouraging the proliferation of 
backstreet operators. 
  some doctors did continue to perform abortions clandestinely but if caught were also 
 harshly treated . in 1977 , for example , dr philippus lodewyk jacobus smith , aged 50 , of 
 ottosdal was sentenced to a prison term for performing abortions , free of charge , on three 
 white university students .
convicted in february 1976 , he was already in prison when the 
 disciplinary committee of the medical and dental council held a hearing about his case , and 
 he was brought manacled before the committee .
he pleaded guilty to the 
 charge of disgraceful conduct and said in mitigation  he gave in to pleadings from the three 
 girls to do the abortions .
he felt very sorry for the girls , who were facing scandal and an 
 end to their university careers. he was struck off the medical register and returned to 
 prison . 
 
afterwards , a gynaecologist who for forty years had believed in abortion law reform , 
 dr e.w .
bischoff , told a meeting of members of the feminist group abortion reform action 
 group ,  a doctor has no rights today. 
  this had little impact on women of other 
races who had little to no access to 
 medical abortion in the first place .
but in the aftermath of the downfall of crichton and 
 until the demise of apartheid , white girls and women in south africa found it harder to have 
 safe medical abortions . 
  which is precisely what the np government wanted .
 after its formation in 1910 as a self - governing dominion within the british empire , the 
 union of south africa followed a combination of english and roman - dutch common laws on 
 abortion that decreed the procedure permissible only when necessary to save a woman s 
 life . 
 the government continued doing so after south africa withdrew from the commonwealth 
 and became a republic in 1961 . in 1972 
 a sensational trial took place in the south african 
 supreme court that for weeks placed clandestine abortion on the front pages of the 
 country s newspapers . 
 two men , one an eminent doctor and the other a self - taught 
 abortionist , were charged with conspiring to perform illegal abortions on twenty - six white 
 teenagers and young unmarried women . 
 the prosecution of dr derk crichton and james watts 
 occurred while the national party government was in the process of drafting abortion 
 legislation and was perceived by legal experts as another test of the judiciary s stance 
 on the common law on abortion . the trial was mainly intended to regulate the medical 
 profession and ensure doctors ceased helping young white women evade their  
 duty to 
 procreate within marriage . 
 ultimately , the event encapsulated a great deal about elites 
 attempt to buttress apartheid culture and is significant for , among other reasons , 
 contributing to the production of south africa s extremely restrictive abortion and 
 sterilisation act ( 1975 ) . 