 The Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) presented a forum in early May on the highly contested topic: Abortion: her body, her choice?
It is an issue brought to the forefront again thanks to a report of a minor being arrested for undergoing an abortion in Central Trinidad, and in the face of the Zika virus and its possible link to microcephaly.
Panelists were called to answer questions on this divisive topic such as, should abortion be made available on demand? Under what circumstances, if any, should it be allowed and others posed by the packed audience at the UWI St. Augustine, Noor Hassanali Auditorium.
The forum, chaired by Professor Patrick Watson, Director of SALISES began with Dr. Fuad Khan, former Minister of Health of Trinidad and Tobago lamenting the archaic nature of existing laws concerning abortion in Trinidad and Tobago, such as the Offences Against the Persons Act, which criminalises persons who assist in the termination of a pregnancy: “Persons can get four years in prison...whether that’s a doctor or a pharmacist.” He stressed the need for other archaic laws to be revisited such as 1938’s Rex v. Bourne and 1973’s Roe v. Wade.
Dr. Jacqueline Sharpe, Advisory Director of the Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago, emphasized the need for more information and more restrictive laws to avoid unsafe abortions. She said Trinidad is behind in its abortion laws compared with the rest of the region, such as Guyana, where abortion is available by request as a result of the Montevideo Consensus in 2013: “women’s access to safe abortion must be protected using a human right and a public health approach.”
Also, she said, Barbados allows abortions in the following instances: to save the life of a woman; her physical and/or mental welfare; rape and incest; foetal abnormality. The need to scale up family planning services was also stressed, such as emergency contraception within 48 hours for all rape victims who are of a reproductive age, and post-abortion counselling.
Father Clyde Harvey, Vicar of Clergy, Archdiocese of Port of Spain noted at the start of his presentation that nowhere in abortion rules is the welfare of the child mentioned or referenced. He said that the idea that hydrocephaly caused by the Zika virus can be used as a reason for abortion is rooted in a need for perfectionism that is absolutely inhumane and that “life is not a problem to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived.”
Dr. Merle Hodge, former Senior Lecturer of Language and Literature at The UWI St. Augustine and author and activist, noted that although she and Father Harvey have opposing views on this issue, they usually agree on everything else. She said that she is not out to change personal opinions... if your values contradict, you will not have an abortion. This set the stage for the question and answer segment that was longer than all the speakers’ presentations combined. A continuous queue of impassioned persons ranging from journalists, senators, doctors and lawyers, lined up to weigh in; so much so that Dr. Hodge commented, “Talking about abortion often turns into a cross-purpose argument: people end up sliding past each other. Hot air is wasted and it won’t change the price of barley.”
Abortion was held to task from personal narratives about how costly it is, to where do men’s rights come into play in the abortion argument: don’t they deserve to have a say? – to philosophical quandaries like where does life begin? One person even questioned Father Harvey’s selection and how he came to represent the entire Christian community.
The panel did their best to address questions, but there were no easy answers. Dr. Sharpe reminded the audience that 22 million unsafe abortions happen every year with 47,000 deaths globally and that is not going to stop any time soon.
The Zika virus brought abortion back on the discussion table, but it’s a conversation that has been around for centuries and will not go away any time soon. In the interim, it may be best that we agree to disagree, but the discussion must continue.
Jeanette G. Awai is a freelance writer Marketing and Communications Assistant at the UWI Marketing and Communications Office.
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