Hello, Hi. People Are Dying Because of Illegal Access To Abortions
People are dying and we’re debating about whether we should do something about it. That’s really what is about. That so many other countries have had safe legal access to abortions, Jamaica being one of few that does not have legal abortions to save abortions under any circumstances. Even the colonising countries that have imposed these unethical laws on us have progressed while we continue to fail those who need it the most. A CAPRI report shows that women are dying or being severely injured, it’s more expensive than economically, and importantly, people are dying because of the lack of safe access to abortions. It’s the reason MP Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn had brought this issue to parliament in the first place because a woman in her constituency died because she didn’t have access to safe abortion, yet Jamaican politicians are dragging their foot with this.
I can’t buy into the argument that we ‘shouldn’t kill what isn’t born’ when the lack of access to safe abortions is allowing women to be killed now, children who are born because of attempted abortions have a higher infant mortality rate which means the lack of safe abortions is actually what’s killing children.
The truth is, persons who are against access to safe abortions don’t care about the lives of children, especially from Low Economic backgrounds. If we did, then we wouldn’t be dragging on with this debate. The Capri’s report stated that the persons who are accessing illegal abortions are usually between ages 15-21. This is also a vulnerable group with experiencing sexual violence. In Eve for Life’s submission to Parliament they had the reports of young girls who have experienced rape from older men, some of them were men in their families and they chose to seek out an illegal abortion, knowing the risk to their lives because they couldn’t handle being pregnant under those circumstances. Even if there is comprehensive sex education, which we do need, and access to contraceptives in high schools), there are still going to be instances of sexual violence and contraception failure. And no one should be forced to make a report of sexual violence before granting access to abortion because of how terrible the justice system deals with violence against women. There are too many instances where reports are made and the police do nothing about it and the perpetrators can walk free and the survivor gets no form of justice.
And this isn’t to say that only poorer people are having abortions, because people with enough money are able to access them legally in another country or with a medical practitioner who can do the procedure safely off the record. So the lives of teenagers are at risk, especially if they are from a LSE background. Abortion monologues gives a wide variety of reasons on why some people have chosen to do an abortion and the reasons they feel after which we can use instead of trying to put access to abortion in a black and white view. For some, it wasn’t even their choice, and that’s also where the law should protect people who have been forced to have an abortion as well as counseling for those to ensure they aren’t being coerced. It should be the decision of the person who is pregnant if they want to go through with an abortion or not. If you don’t think people shouldn’t have abortions, then simply don’t have one, them remaining illegal will not change that. There are studies there to prove it. Anti-choice laws just make it riskier.
This can’t be a morality study when people's lives are in danger. Morality isn’t going to get us anywhere because we all have different morals. A lot of anti-choice rhetoric is coming from a Christian standpoint and a lot of anti-choice organisations would want us to believe that anti-choice is the only way to be a Christian, but the reality is Christianity isn’t a monolith, that’s why we have about 30,000 denominations in the world. There are Christians who believe in the safe and legal access of aboritions such as Rev Sean Major Campbell who stated on Capri’s forum that he regretted being anti-choice and that we can’t approach this debate with arguing religious morals. Looking at whether the bible disagrees with abortion is also an iffy statement to make since God is ok with damning generations of people and Numbers 5: 11-28 where God makes an abortion potion for women who commit adultery.
Some arguments against abortion are also just plain amoral. I’ve seen some people (too many) say that no one should have access to an abortion because they did not practising safe sex. I’ve already discussed that that isn’t the case for everyone, but they are essentially saying that being pregnant and then having to care for that child should be a punishment for unprotected sex. This gives no thought or consideration to how the child or parent well being, emotionally, psychology, mentally, or financially. It really boils down to people hating children, and people who can get pregnant and just don’t believe they deserve rights.
Even after reports that it’s expensive as a country to continue with illegal abortions, that legal abortions will lower the mortality rate of people who are pregnant, lower the crime rate (even less people will die) we are still debating. In case I haven’t stressed this point enough, more people are dying when abortions are illegal than when it is legal! And even if you are the one person who life turned out great after a failed abortion and you got out of poverty, it doesn’t change the fact that thousands of people are being hurt or dying now because it is illegal.