Risky sex over the festive season has a dark side - more women ask for an abortion in January. Sexual health practitioner Elna McIntosh said December and January were her busiest months and attributed the increase in abortions to the festive season."After the festive season we often see an increase in requests for termination because people went on holiday and were more relaxed, and sometimes forgot about contraception and condoms," McIntosh said.Andrea Thompson, of the Marie Stopes organisation, which offers a range of reproductive health services, said in January there had been an increase in the number of women seeking an abortion."We see an average of 300 to 350 more women in January than in December. but we need more data to understand why that is."It is probably a result of compounded factors, which range from difficulty in accessing services to some facilities not offering services during the festive season."Thompson said that the increase in abortions was not necessarily linked to risky sexual behaviour and that these misconceptions often fed the stigma surrounding abortion.Some members of the Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition have said that the lack of data also fuelled the stigmatisation of abortion.Sexual health doctor Tlaleng Mofokeng said that "abortion is not something that women should be made to feel guilty for having"."The abortion statistics are not done very well in South Africa. As much as abortion is legal, our health department does not spend enough time and money on education regarding when a person must present for an abortion."There are no databases that women can access to assist them with information on service providers in their areas, what to expect at clinics and when to go back for a follow-up," Mofokeng said...