THE EDITOR, Sir:

FATHER HO LUNG is promoting hysteria by suggesting the Government's proposed bill, the Termination of Pregnancy, intends to punish doctors and other medical practitioners.

What the bill proposes is that doctors who object should refer the woman to another provider. It is the refusal to refer that is considered unacceptable. The relevant statement, in Section 5 of the proposed bill, is that "Where any midwife or medical practitioner or other health-service provider who objects to termination of pregnancy on the grounds of conscience refuses or deliberately fails to inform any woman seeking an abortion of a practitioner who provides the service, under sections 4 and 15 he/she shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and/or imprisonment for a period not exceeding three month".

Conscientious objection

In short, the proposed legislation recognises the right to conscientious objection. Any doctor or midwife may refuse to provide the service for religious or other reasons. However, the proposed bill acknowledges that the patient is at the centre of the debate and, therefore, the midwife or medical practitioner is obliged to refer the patient to another doctor who may provide the service. This request is normal in the public-health ethics, not just for reproductive health. Any doctor who refuses a patient is supposed to give alternative information and refer that patient to another doctor. The penalty in the proposed legislation is for refusing to provide information to and referral to a patient, not for refusing to provide the service.

Women have rights

Father Ho Lung focuses on the foetus as if it has no connection to the woman. However, women have the right to make decisions about childbearing, and are best able to assess their circumstances. It is dangerous and even socially irresponsible to suggest that the Government of Jamaica should ignore certain social realities relating to women's reproductive health and the impact of the failure to provide safe abortion services.

When women are desperate, faced with an unwanted pregnancy, they will put their hope in any available means to terminate the pregnancy. In the current situation, the result is recourse to unregulated services which put women's health at risk. Data from the Ministry of Health already suggest that an average of over 1,000 women per year, since 2006, have been turning up at the hospitals to deal with complications related to unsafe abortions. In addressing this reality, the Government is well within its remit to consider legislative reform and health-care reform to address this and to save women's lives.

We are, etc.,

The Working Group for Women's

Reproductive Health and Rights