The decision by Miss Jamaica World 2006 Sara Lawrence to relinquish her crown because of her pregnancy and to have her child has sparked renewed debate over the touchy pro-choice/pro-life issue.

Several persons, including local church organisations and women’s groups, are of the view that the beauty queen did the right thing by giving up the prestige associated with her position as the most beautiful woman in Jamaica and in the region for the sake of her unborn child.

Acting executive director of the Jamaica Bureau of Women’s Affairs, Faith Webster, advocated the freedom of the woman to choose her own path.

“She had a choice and she made that choice. We just have to give people their choice, which is what it’s all about, the woman’s choice,” Webster told the Observer.

Pro-choice views were also expressed by persons on the street, most of whom said they were saddened at the fact that Lawrence was giving up her crown.

“I have nothing against abortions,” one woman from Mandeville who declined to give her name, said. “I feel that as a woman, if you feel that your situation doesn’t merit having the child, then go ahead and do what you have to do.”

A woman with whom she was standing added her voice to the debate. “I can’t say she made the right decision because I don’t know her circumstances, but she did the honourable thing,” she said.

Kelley Anglin, a 16 year-old student at Bishop Gibson High School, told the Observer she thought Lawrence did the right thing.

“I think it looks good that she came out and did that,” said Anglin, referring to the beauty queen’s resignation from official duties.

In a statement on the Miss Jamaica World website, pageant promoter Mickey Haughton-James said the beauty queen “had another way out of the predicament” but chose to handle it “with class and in keeping with her moral dictates”.

But Addassa Powell, another Mandeville resident, expressed the view that the pageant organisers and society in general were being unfair.

“It is sad how society treats these things,” said Powell. “On the one hand they are suggesting that women shouldn’t have children without being married, and on the other hand they don’t mind the nakedness associated with the pageant. It is a double-standard.”

Meanwhile, the church, which is historically known to be pro-life, also batted for Lawrence – as far as the choice between the title and the unborn child is concerned. It has reiterated its stance that the act of snuffing out prenatal life is ungodly by praising Lawrence’s decision to have her child and instead relinquish the Miss Jamaica World title.

Expressing the official view of his church, communications director at the West Indies Union of Seventh-day Adventists, Nigel Coke, said the church was largely against abortion.

“The Church does not serve as conscience for individuals; however, it should provide moral guidance,” said Coke. “Abortions, for reasons of birth control, gender selection, or convenience are not condoned by the Church. Women, at times however, may face exceptional circumstances that present serious moral or medical dilemmas, such as significant threats to the pregnant woman’s life, serious jeopardy to her health, severe congenital defects carefully diagnosed in the foetus, and pregnancy resulting from rape or incest,” he quoted from an official document on the website of the Adventist world church.

The document added, however: “The final decision whether to terminate the pregnancy or not should be made by the pregnant woman after appropriate consultation. She should be aided in her decision by accurate information, biblical principles, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

Coke said he personally felt Lawrence chose a higher ground. “She chose life over a crown,” he said.

The Jamaica Council of Churches, the umbrella organisation for churches of all denominations in the country, declined to comment on the issue because, according to General-Secretary Rev Gary Harriot, the organisation was on the verge of meeting to discuss its position on the issue of abortion.

Lawrence’s reign as Miss Jamaica World 2006 would have expired in August this year.