THE health ministry is pressing ahead with its pro-legalisation abortion agenda, despite religious objections, saying lives are at stake. An interim report on abortion compiled by an advisory committee to health minister John Junor recommends putting measures in place to make abortions safer for women.

But that initial position, based on concerns of backdoor abortions and attendant maternal mortalities – last counted officially at 106 per 100,000 live births, 16 per cent of them adolescents – is to be fine-tuned from the results of a study being commissioned by the Abortion Advisory Committee (AAC).

“What we are seeking to do is to review the practice and law in relation to abortion, not for the purpose of allowing abortion, but for the purpose of protecting the health of women who have been seeking illegal abortions in circumstance which endangers their health and their future reproductive capacity,” Junor advised the Sunday Observer in an interview Wednesday.

Both the National Church Alliance, comprising a panoply of denominations and church groups, as well as the Roman Catholic Church, have publicly vilified plans to liberalise abortions.

Roman Catholic Archbishop Lawrence Burke, taking a hardline position, said abortionists should be prosecuted.

The advisory committee, which is headed by Dr Wynante Patterson, has already advertised for bids from researchers to test public reaction to more liberal abortion laws.

An attitude survey to abortions already exists, but it was done 24 years ago by Carl Stone, the late pollster, academic and political analyst.

Junor said the draft guidelines currently before him relate to circumstances under which abortions are currently allowable under common law.

“In essence, they are saying that you could have a situation where under eight weeks it (an abortion) would be done at the community level; eight to 12 weeks, it would also be done at community level using dilation if you were to accept it,” he said.

The abortions would only be allowed at specially approved clinics, he added, but no pregnancy over 20 weeks gestation would be terminated.

“They are clear on the recommendations about appropriate counselling, medical services and the circumstances and that those terminations should only be undertaken by a Ob-Gyn (Obstetric Gynaecologists) specially trained and certified medical practitioners,” the lawmaker said of the committee’s interim recommendations.

The committee has so far reviewed the existing legislation and policies on abortion in Jamaica as well as the wider Caribbean.

Junor reiterated the ministry’s motive in reviewing the legislation, which is to reduce the number of back room abortions that currently take place in Jamaica, and ultimately cutting down on the country’s maternal mortality rate, which it has committed to under the Millennium Development Goals.

“We are about reducing the maternal mortality rate that we have in Jamaica, and that mortality rate is related to practices such as abortion,” Junor said.

The health ministry, he told the Sunday Observer, was also coming under pressure from medical professionals to clarify the abortion laws.

The Medical Association of Jamaica is pro-legalisation, but its position is that only doctors certified for abortions should be licensed for the procedures.

Junor said the interim report also highlighted the dichotomy that exists between the age of consent, which is 16, and age at which children are considered adults are no longer required to get a signed consent from their parents for surgical purposes, which is 18.

“We know that under the Child Care and Protection Act, we have to amend the law in conjunction with our signature of the rights of the child convention,” he said.

The convention defines ‘child’ as a person under 18.

While there is limited information on the number of abortions that actually take place in the island, Minister Junor said the committee was guided by a study done more than five years ago by Dr Fred Nunes, which looked at the rate of abortion in a particular facility.

“They reviewed some statistics that indicated in a six-month period, in a particular facility that I will not name, 48 patients were admitted to attempt the termination of pregnancy,” said Junor.

“Seventy-three per cent were unemployed,” he said, adding that the study revealed that the women were from a lower socioeconomic class, were all single, and under-employed.

Junor added, however, that his ministry was not about to tout abortion legislation as a method of family planning.

He also noted that the legal grounds are in an essence those that would satisfy common law tests now, such as cases of rape, carnal abuse, incest, and any medical condition that threatens the life of the mother.

He said too, that clinical laboratory or ultra sound diagnosis of abnormality, and where a pregnancy may lead to mental impairment, were also accepted conditions under which an abortion would be done.

“A patient would have to be informed of the risk, and informed consent obtained, where appropriate, from parents, guardians, spouse et cetera, in terms of the purposes of consent,” Junor added.

The AAC is now going through the process of selecting the researcher for the study, Dr Patterson told the Sunday Observer, saying the objective is to garner the opinion of the wider public on whether “legislation should enable women to access abortion and, if so, under what circumstances.”

“We hope to find a company by April so that by June we would have the information to complete the report and have a press conference,” she said.

However, she also pointed out that the committee was hunting funding to commission other studies, as well as a series of public consultations island-wide, which would also include focus groups.

“We really want to get the input of the wider society in order to complete the recommendations,” said Patterson.

“The committee is not looking at whether abortion is right or wrong. We are looking at whether the law should permit a woman to have abortion and under what circumstances.”

davidsont@jamaicaobserver.com

Results of abortion study done by Carl Stone in 1982

49% felt abortions were wrong

16% saw nothing wrong with it

29% said it depended on the person’s situation

6% were undecided

39% of the sample said they knew someone who had an abortion

51% said they felt like the person had done something wrong

69% were in favour of birth control

26% opposed birth control

5% were not sure