Abortion

awaits change in STATUS :

Society needs to reach out to save pain and hardship :

By Isuri Yasasmin Kaviratne

Recently, medical practitioners made a sincere plea to the authorities to decriminalise abortion in Sri Lanka, quoting statistics, that there are around 650 abortions daily in the country and around 20 women die due to complications, as these abortions are done in clinics with poor hygiene and minimal safety conditions.

In this context, the Sunday Observer looked in depth into the worrisome state the doctors spoke of, and beyond.

The Decree

Sections 303 to 309 of the Penal Code of Sri Lanka states, an abortion is a criminal offence unless it is performed to save the life of a mother. This law, as was the Penal Code, was drafted and approved in 1883. In 1973, a Committee of the Medical Legal Society of Sri Lanka recommended the restrictions to be removed in cases of grave injury to the physical and mental health of the mother, pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, and in cases where the child, if born, would suffer from severe mental or physical abnormalities. These recommendations, however, did not result in legislative actions.

In 1995, these recommendations were incorporated in a Cabinet Paper, though it didn’t proceed any further. The National Action Plan for Women has made provisions making similar recommendations since 1996, which too have failed to see the light of day. An amendment to Section 306 of the Penal Code was drafted to remove the restriction in cases of rape, incest and congenital abnormalities by the Gender Sub-Committee of the Law Commission in 2012. However, even the draft is no longer available in the official website.

The Care

Dr. Shantha Hettiarachchi, Chief Medical Officer, Sri Jayewardenapura University said women get treatment for post abortion complications at government hospitals without any questioning, regardless of the legality of the context.

“We don’t inform the police or refer them for further questioning because it would discourage other patients with similar problems from coming to the hospital. Our prime ain is to save people’s lives.”

Providing legal background on this subject to a report published by the Family Planning Association, titled ‘Unwanted/ Unplanned Pregnancies and their aftermath’, the former Attorney General Palitha Fernando said, according to Sections 21 and 22 of the Penal Code and their application to Sections 303 to 309 which penalise abortions, medical officers are under no obligation to report to authorities when a person visits the hospital after an illegal abortion, for post abortion care.

On the other hand, Hettiarachchi said the current abortion laws need to be changed, at the very least, to include congenital abnormalities as well as women who are pregnant due to rape and incest, even though decriminalising of abortion would be beneficial for young girls who get pregnant out of wedlock, and are forced to give up their education and other future prospects.

He admitted that the inadequacy of the Sri Lankan education system on sex and reproductive health education is a reason for many unwanted pregnancies. “The only instance I was able to educate them on sex and reproductive health was at a session during the ‘leadership programme’ for university students.”

Commenting on the statistics on abortion, he said, the numbers may not be 100% accurate. The only way of proving that a woman died due to abortion is by examining the post mortem reports and many of the cases don’t get reported. As a former officer at the Ministry of Health, Hettiarachchi added that statistics compiled a decade ago stated that the number of abortions a day is around 700-1000, and “this number couldn’t have decreased.”

The Choice

Thushara Agus, Executive Director, Family Planning Association Sri Lanka (FPA) said, the law that penalises abortion should be made lenient at least for rape and incest victims and for mothers carrying foetuses with congenital abnormalities.

“Do it in a professional way, for deserving cases.”

She explained that Sri Lanka being a country where culture matters a lot even with the decriminalising of abortion, women are not likely to line up to abort their foetuses. But by providing a choice to women, at least the “deserving” cases will have an opportunity to forego months of psychological agony and trauma and their prolonged effects.

Even though the FPA does not conduct abortions in their clinics, Agus said, there are many clients who seek advice, most of them married couples, needing an abortion due to economic constraints of having to raise another child, or due to their immediate personal plans. She maintained that there hasn’t been any case of women being forced to abort the foetus by the boyfriend/husband or their families, based on the clients attending FPA clinics.

“What we should understand is that most of the young people are sexually active, even though as a country we don’t have a proper syllabus on sex and reproductive health, in our school curriculum.” She explained that discussions with the Ministries of Health and Education are underway to expand the school syllabus on the subject.

The Restriction

The religious leaders have consistently and continuously opposed legalising abortion on spiritual grounds, basing their arguments on the importance of life and destroying a life, even before its birth, considering it a crime against nature and or higher powers. However, when the Sunday Observer attempted to contact them they were not available for comment.

The Trauma

Psychologist S. Suhaila said, it has been observed that women who have undergone abortion, especially, in situations such as rape and incest, undergo psychological conditions such as trauma, and are in need of a support system from society.

“These girls, most of them underage, have been abused, raped, conceived and are in trauma already,” she explained, and in cases of underage girls, the trauma was severe.

People’s perceptions do matter, e.g. when these girls or women are in a vulnerable state of mind, treating them as criminals does not help them or the society. She added that the victimised girls feel they are being treated like “garbage”.

Commenting on decriminalising abortion, she said, there will always be someone who misuses the system. But, that would not be a reasonable reason to force a woman to carry a fetus of congenital abnormality or to carry a child of rape or incest.

There is already a psychological factor that prevents these women from seeking professional healthcare following an abortion; the fear of revealing the fact that they have undergone an abortion, the social disapproval and so forth. There are only few women who visit hospitals due to post abortion complications, even though it is legal.