Abortion still proving a tough issue for legislators

BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com

Saturday, March 13, 2010

AFTER some 18 months of weighing the pros and cons of legalising abortion, members of the Joint Select Committee of Parliament Thursday seemed split over what recommendations they would be making to the legislature on the thorny issue.

The committee has been receiving submissions since July 2008 on the report of the Abortion Policy Review Advisory Group (APRAG) set up in 2005 by former minister of health, John Junor, amidst concerns that abortion was the third leading cause of death in adolescents and that unsafe abortions constituted the eighth leading cause of maternal deaths in Jamaica.

The report found that most of the women seeking abortions were "young, poor, unemployed, and lived in economically and socially deprived communities".

APRAG, which was asked to advise on the development of a comprehensive national policy on abortion, with special emphasis on safe abortions, recommended that Sections 72 and 73 of the Offences Against the Person Act be repealed and replaced with a Termination of Pregnancy Act.

Since July 2008, a number of submissions have been made to the committee, the majority from pro-life groups who have warned the Government of the ills of legalising abortion or giving way to an abortion on-demand policy.

But the 16-member group has yet to come to a determination on the APRAG's final report just days before Parliament prorogues, marking the end of this legislative year.

On Thursday, the deliberations of the seven members who attended the meeting at Gordon House in Kingston were marked by the same indecisiveness as at the start of the deliberations on the ticklish issue.

It began with committee chair, Health Minister Rudyard Spencer, who showed signs of wanting to cancel the meeting, declaring that he was not inclined to examine the report with so few committee members in attendance until it was pointed out by Senator Dwight Nelson and others that some committee members have never attended since the deliberations began.

Committee members seemed divided over whether or not a conscience vote should be taken among them or in the Upper and Lower houses only until Opposition Senator Mark Golding pointed out that a "mini conscience vote would not be worth much".

Spencer, who seemed reluctant to give voice to the recommendations in the report, urged members to keep the contents close to their chest.

Individuals were, however, clear that the group was not likely to make any recommendation in favour of abortion on-demand but rather that abortion be allowed in prescribed circumstances.

"I think we are at a point now where we are better able to give to Parliament as good a report reflecting the ideas that have come before us and for us to take a decision," said Opposition committee member Dr Fenton Ferguson. "We need to get the thing on the table and let the Parliamentary debate determine the way forward.

"It is obvious, this business of handling abortion is not simple, this is why we have been grappling with it since 1975 and it is not something even as parliamentarians we can bulldoze our way through. There are some strong moral issues, there are some strong legal views and there are some strong medical views."

He added: "We have to be very careful that it is not just trying to meet the deadline because the time has come, but we don't want to be in a state of impotence because we are frightened by the fact that it is a difficult decision that we have to take."

Interestingly, committee member Senator Hyacinth Bennett, who has spoken openly against abortion, at the last minute yesterday admitted she was 'struggling' with the issue, voicing difficulty in reconciling how a child impregnated by forced sex could be expected to carry the pregnancy full term.

"I have a similar dilemma," Government committee member Gregory Mair said.

Under the Offences Against the Person Act, persons identified as having made the slightest contribution to abortion are liable to life in prison.

Government MPs who sit on the committee are Spencer, Marisa Darymple-Phillibert, Shahine Robinson, Ernest Smith, Gregory Mair and Dr St Aubyn Bartlett.

Opposition MPS are Sharon Hay-Webster, Dr Fenton Ferguson, Lisa Hanna and Natalie Neita Headley. Members from the Senate are Dorothy Lightbourne, Dwight Nelson, Aundre Franklin, Hyacinth Bennett, Sandrea Falconer and Mark Golding.

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Abortion still proving a tough issue for legislators