The intermittent debate on abortion in Jamaica has been reopened with the current pro-life campaign launched by local group Love March Movement in association with global Christian organisation 40 Days for Life.

Under the campaign, which began on February 14, pro-life advocates engage in prayer and fasting to end abortion. Additionally, Love March Movement members have been staging a peaceful 12-hour vigil at a specific location in St Andrew, where credible information indicates that abortions are done.

Mr Robert Colquhoun, director of international campaigns at 40 Days for Life, told this newspaper’s journalists last Friday that his organisation has had significant success since its first campaign in the US in 2007.

According to Mr Colquhoun, 40 Days for Life has spread to more than 1,000 communities in 60 cities across the world and, through its intervention, more than 24,000 unborn lives have been saved, 148 abortion centres closed, and 256 abortion workers have walked off the job.

With regard to the organisation’s presence in Jamaica, he said: “We bring a freshness to the pro-life movement here with a message and a presentation. We are more mission-orientated, helping existing ministries and movements in what they’re doing, encouraging their work, and getting more volunteers.”

As we have pointed out before, abortion is one of those issues that surfaces from time to time in this country. That we have not been able to gain consensus is primarily due to the fact that the debates are usually filled with emotion, as there are strong views on both sides, especially from the Church, which is fiercely opposed to the procedure.

Currently, abortion is illegal in Jamaica, except in cases where a woman’s life is in danger or there is need to preserve her mental and physical health. Under the Offences Against the Person Act, women and their doctors can be charged with felonious assault for procuring or facilitating an abortion, and can be imprisoned for life if found guilty. In addition, anyone who provides a woman with information on where she can get the procedure done can be charged with a misdemeanour and can be imprisoned for up to three years.

That does not sit well with many people. We recall that in 2018 a group of experts on human rights in patient care argued, at the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange, that the law is archaic, and has most likely led to unsafe abortions.

At the time, the group said that unsafe abortions was the third leading cause of maternal death in Jamaica and, as such, has become a major public health problem.

Global estimates provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the years 2010 to 2014 state that 45 per cent of all induced abortions are unsafe. One-third of those were performed by untrained individuals using dangerous and invasive methods.

The WHO has said that “when people with unintended pregnancies face barriers to attaining safe, timely, affordable, geographically reachable, respectful, and non-discriminatory abortion, they often resort to unsafe abortion”.

That argument finds favour with the people who are pro-choice and who argue that maintaining the current law discourages women from coming forward when complications associated with induced abortion occur.

Where this round of the debate will go is yet to be seen. However, we believe it’s a debate worth having without being coloured by narrow views on either side.