The recommendations of the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) are extremely troubling and represent a threat to our unborn children, youth, and the democratic process. They fly in the face of the biological reality of human life and also represent a brazen assault on our most defenceless citizens.

Any study which considers children in the womb must first accept the basic biological reality that human life begins at conception. Failure to accept this basic biological fact has led CaPRI to ridiculous conclusions. It calls for all citizens to partake in the shedding of innocent blood through taxation and specifically targets our vulnerable teens. Dehumanisation is a must if killing humans is to be acceptable, as it was in the Holocaust and during slavery. Nothing can justify the killing of human beings, whether they be Jewish, black, or unborn.

Attacking the adolescents

Thirteen-year-olds cannot give lawful consent to any medical procedure. This is due to the widely held principle that children are unable to adequately weigh facts presented to them in a responsible fashion, and are many times more at risk to emotional dysregulation and impulsivity related to the underdevelopment of the pre-frontal cortex of the brain. How could they then be permitted to give independent consent to what would likely constitute major surgery.

It must be noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that teens are almost thrice as likely to have riskier late-term abortions (T Strahan, 2000, ‘Differential Adverse Impact on Teenagers Who Undergo Induced Abortion’; Association for Interdisciplinary Research Bulletin, 15(1):3). They are also less likely to take medications properly following any medical or surgical procedure, and are, consequently, far more at risk to the deleterious medical risks that abortions present, including infections, infertility, hysterectomies, and death.

Abortion is inherently a risky and dangerous invasive procedure with known devastating effects. Additionally, the psychological weight of killing your own child in the womb ought not to be underestimated. The psychological and psychiatric impact of abortion are well documented, with teens who abort being six times more likely to commit suicide than teens who don’t (B Garfinkel, et al, 1986, ‘Stress, Depression and Suicide: A Study of Adolescents in Minnesota’).

Boosting sex trafficking

Abortion is an important aspect of the billion-dollar sex trafficking industry. Legalised abortion is likely the missing link to bring modern-day slavery in Jamaica to the next level. Often when a child is being sexually abused it is a pregnancy that alerts community members that something untoward is taking place, prompting calls to the police. If abortion is made widely available, and to teenagers at that, abusers will find it easier to cover their tracks.

In a groundbreaking study called ‘The Health Consequences of Sex Trafficking and their Implications for Identifying Victims in Health Care Facilities’, J Lederer and C Wetzel (2014) examined the stories of 66 victims of sex trafficking. The researchers found that 55 per cent of these women had undergone at least one abortion while being trafficked, and over 30 per cent underwent multiple abortions.

In the Jamaica CaPRI is creating, they will simply send pregnant girls to the nearest health centre every time an abortion is deemed necessary to keep ‘business’ booming. The reality is a pregnant child sex slave means a loss of income, pleasure, and anonymity.

Insulting our democracy

The imposition of secret votes to pass such evils would be autocratic and irrational, given the RJRGleaner Don Anderson poll of 2019, which showed that one per cent of Jamaicans support abortion on demand. It stands to reason that if CaPRI recommends that children can demand an abortion, anyone can demand an abortion for any reason. Passing these horrendous recommendations via secret ballot would undermine the democratic process and would be an insult to every voter.

Further, every taxpayer, including those with conscientious objections, would be forced to fund the killing of the unborn if abortions were made available via the public health system. We call on the Government to reject these outrageous recommendations which would result in a breach of the right to life for the unborn as well as a breach of freedom of conscience for the vast majority of citizens.

Mandating the legalisation of abortion on demand for all ages, without restriction, at taxpayers’ expense, is contrary to reason, as well as the democratic process. The utilisation of secret ballot in Parliament would also set a dangerous precedent and add unnecessary ammunition to a Government that already has an overwhelming majority.

We continue to depend on our Government to protect our democracy, our youth, and the most defenceless among us — the unborn who, like us, have the basic human right to life. We agree with Dr Mildred Fay Jefferson, the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, as well as the first woman to become a member of the Boston Surgical Society, that: “As a citizen…[we are] not willing to stand aside and allow this concept of expendable human lives to turn this great land of ours into just another reservation, where only the perfect, the privileged, and the planned have the right to live.”

Dr Daniel Thomas is a medical doctor and president of the Love March Movement, a youth Christian non-government organisation which is pro-life, pro-purity and pro-family.The Love March Movement launched Jamaica’s first youth pro-life campaign in 2019 called Fight4Me, #KeepLifeAlive, which included a pro-life submission to the Human Resource and Social Development Committee of Parliament. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or danielthomaschristian@yahoo.com.