Laws criminalising abortion undermine women’s right to dignified life
Published:Monday | December 30, 2024 | 12:06 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
We are almost at the beginning of a new year, yet continue to cling to an anachronistic law that criminalises abortion categorically. As is well known, Sections 72 and 73 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1864 (OAPA) proscribes, without any exception, the procurement of an abortion as well as any attempt to procure, or otherwise assist with the procurement of an abortion or “miscarriage”. A major symbolic effect of laws that criminalise abortion is the institutionalisation of state control over women’s reproductive health, and autonomy. In this sense, these laws implicitly treat women’s wombs as being ‘state-owned’.
Presently, the ‘savings law clause’, which is contained in Section 13(7) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms 2011 would effectively prevent a litigant from successfully arguing before the Supreme Court of Jamaica that Sections 72 and 73 of the OAPA violate any constitutionally guaranteed right.
The continued retention of laws criminalising abortion undermines women’s right to a dignified life. Significantly, Inter-American Court on Human Rights has identified the right to a dignified life as a fundamental dimension of the right to life. The realization of which includes “not only the right of every human being not to be deprived of his life arbitrarily, but also the right that he [or she] will not be prevented from having access to the conditions that guarantee a dignified existence” (‘Street Children’ Villagran-Morales et al v Guatemala judgment of November 19, 1999 (Merits), paragraph 144).
UWI law Professor Tracy Robinson further explains that a dignified life includes “…being able to make choices that we think are best for our lives and having the opportunity to realise our fullest potential” .
Depriving women of the ability to freely control their reproductive autonomy and decide whether, when and under what circumstances they can terminate a pregnancy unjustifiably limits their right to “make choices that [they] think are best for their life” and access “the conditions that guarantee a dignified existence”. This is particularly true for poor women, who often have no choice but to seek out unsafe, and sometimes fatal, back-door abortions in unsanitary conditions. It is time for our laws to respect and affirm women’s fundamental right to make the choices they deem best for their lives, especially those regarding their reproductive autonomy.
AMANDA QUEST