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Church, youth group knock policy review recommendation
An alliance of local church organisations, Christian lawyers and medical doctors, as well as a youth organisation yesterday strongly objected to the recommendation by the Abortion Policy Review Advisory Group that abortions in Jamaica be legalised.
The group, which included spokespersons from the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC), Jamaica Pentecostal Union, Jamaica Association of Evangelicals (JAE), the archdiocese of Kingston, and the Full Gospel Ministerial Fellowship said it would continue to petition the Government to rethink its position and that it would be organising peaceful marches in protest against abortion.
"Not only is the project to liberalise abortion in Jamaica contrary to the Law of God, it also militates against the deeply held values of this nation," said spokesperson for the JCC, Most Rev Donald Reece. "The people of Jamaica have not asked for abortion, the churches have not asked for it, neither has the vast majority of civic groups or their leaders."
Rev Reece, who added his voice to what he termed the Christian church's "unanimous rejection of abortion on demand in this country", was speaking at a press conference organised by the group at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.
Some of the recommendations put forward by the Abortion Policy Review Advisory Group in a report tabled in Parliament last month are to repeal the relevant sections of the Offences Against the Person Act and substitute them with a Termination of Pregnancy Act; to develop, maintain and staff specified centres in each health region for the provision of therapeutic abortions; and to formally train persons involved in the provision of the services.
The report also suggested methods by which abortions up to 12 weeks and those between 13 and 22 weeks should be performed.
According to the alliance, which bases its objection on biblical grounds, what hurts is not merely that the Abortion Policy Review Advisory Group made the recommendations for pregnancies to be legally terminated, but that they were not consulted in the process.
Rev Peter Garth of the JAE said he believed that there were things which needed to be changed with regard to pregnant women in difficult crises.
"But," he said, "the approach of this piece of proposed legislation is tantamount to throwing out the baby with the bath water. The JAE believes. that moral laws are as abiding as the physical laws. Just as it is always wrong to hate, we believe that abortion on demand is always wrong. It is wrong in 2008 and it will be wrong in the year 3000."
Adding her objection was Dr Doreen Brady-West, who represented the Concerned Christian Doctors Association. "I address you today as the representative of an alliance of several organisations which have in common, a firm and unshakable stance against abortion on demand, which is the spirit and intent of the recommendations contained in this report," she said.
"We stand united in defence of the sanctity of life and we. oppose any plan to alter the laws of Jamaica in anyway that will lead to abortion on demand in our country," said Brady-West.
The youth group, Youth for Life Jamaica, argued that abortions were an injustice to women as well as to the foetus within them.
"If we set a principle as a society that human life is dispensable when it becomes too costly, inconvenient or a representative of bad personal experience, or whatever it may be, we are establishing the foundations on which anarchy will build its castle," said Zandra Levy, Youth for Life Jamaica president.
"We, the members of Youth for Life Jamaica, are standing firm in the conviction that the youth of Jamaica do not need abortion. We are confident that we speak for our generation in the recognition that abortion is never of benefit to any country," Levy added
Some of the alternatives suggested by the Christian group are adequate obstetrical care for mothers in rural areas, help for women in high-risk pregnancies, abstinence education for young people and programmes targeting the strengthening of families.
To date, there are no definitive figures with regard to the number of abortions performed in Jamaica each year.
However, the abortion report, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Health, showed that 250 women out of 641 at a particular hospital have had an abortion and that almost 200 more have had two or more.
An alliance of local church organisations, Christian lawyers and medical doctors, as well as a youth organisation yesterday strongly objected to the recommendation by the Abortion Policy Review Advisory Group that abortions in Jamaica be legalised.
The group, which included spokespersons from the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC), Jamaica Pentecostal Union, Jamaica Association of Evangelicals (JAE), the archdiocese of Kingston, and the Full Gospel Ministerial Fellowship said it would continue to petition the Government to rethink its position and that it would be organising peaceful marches in protest against abortion.
"Not only is the project to liberalise abortion in Jamaica contrary to the Law of God, it also militates against the deeply held values of this nation," said spokesperson for the JCC, Most Rev Donald Reece. "The people of Jamaica have not asked for abortion, the churches have not asked for it, neither has the vast majority of civic groups or their leaders."
Rev Reece, who added his voice to what he termed the Christian church's "unanimous rejection of abortion on demand in this country", was speaking at a press conference organised by the group at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.
Some of the recommendations put forward by the Abortion Policy Review Advisory Group in a report tabled in Parliament last month are to repeal the relevant sections of the Offences Against the Person Act and substitute them with a Termination of Pregnancy Act; to develop, maintain and staff specified centres in each health region for the provision of therapeutic abortions; and to formally train persons involved in the provision of the services.
The report also suggested methods by which abortions up to 12 weeks and those between 13 and 22 weeks should be performed.
According to the alliance, which bases its objection on biblical grounds, what hurts is not merely that the Abortion Policy Review Advisory Group made the recommendations for pregnancies to be legally terminated, but that they were not consulted in the process.
Rev Peter Garth of the JAE said he believed that there were things which needed to be changed with regard to pregnant women in difficult crises.
"But," he said, "the approach of this piece of proposed legislation is tantamount to throwing out the baby with the bath water. The JAE believes. that moral laws are as abiding as the physical laws. Just as it is always wrong to hate, we believe that abortion on demand is always wrong. It is wrong in 2008 and it will be wrong in the year 3000."
Adding her objection was Dr Doreen Brady-West, who represented the Concerned Christian Doctors Association. "I address you today as the representative of an alliance of several organisations which have in common, a firm and unshakable stance against abortion on demand, which is the spirit and intent of the recommendations contained in this report," she said.
"We stand united in defence of the sanctity of life and we. oppose any plan to alter the laws of Jamaica in anyway that will lead to abortion on demand in our country," said Brady-West.
The youth group, Youth for Life Jamaica, argued that abortions were an injustice to women as well as to the foetus within them.
"If we set a principle as a society that human life is dispensable when it becomes too costly, inconvenient or a representative of bad personal experience, or whatever it may be, we are establishing the foundations on which anarchy will build its castle," said Zandra Levy, Youth for Life Jamaica president.
"We, the members of Youth for Life Jamaica, are standing firm in the conviction that the youth of Jamaica do not need abortion. We are confident that we speak for our generation in the recognition that abortion is never of benefit to any country," Levy added
Some of the alternatives suggested by the Christian group are adequate obstetrical care for mothers in rural areas, help for women in high-risk pregnancies, abstinence education for young people and programmes targeting the strengthening of families.
To date, there are no definitive figures with regard to the number of abortions performed in Jamaica each year.
However, the abortion report, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Health, showed that 250 women out of 641 at a particular hospital have had an abortion and that almost 200 more have had two or more.
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