By Dr Veronica C. Evelyn Ph.D.; M.Phil.; B.A. (Hons.); Cert. Social Work (Dist.) Cert. Addiction Studies; MSCEIT™ Certified. Consultant Sociologist
The notion that abortion is a human right is untenable from any angle. Abortion may be a human desire, a strong wish to ‘trow way de damn pickney’, and perhaps even an understandable desire in cases of rape or incest. Emotional arguments can be presented as to why a womb should be turned into a tomb, but the supreme law of a country – its Constitution – is founded on reason, not emotion.
A human right is the entitlement of every human being to all the freedoms and privileges of being human. It is the inherent dignity of every human being, regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, age, or any other distinguishing feature. Abortion is not a human right. In fact, it is contrary to a fundamental human right: the right to life. It jars against Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” No human being is entitled to kill another in the name of ‘freedom’.
A woman may want to end the life of the child within her – that is, to kill her unborn child – for several reasons. She may have become pregnant through rape by a total stranger, a friend or family member, or may have been subject to non-consensual sex with her partner or husband. Such cases are heart-wrenching and call for compassion. It cannot be easy to go through a pregnancy day after day, plagued with memories, feeling violated, and rejecting the growing child that is now part of your personal space. It becomes worse if the pregnancy interrupts education, employment, family life or relationships. Such cases call for strong social, emotional, financial, and practical support that would allow the pregnant mother to carry and later give birth to the life within her. It requires a village effort from caring persons who would offer a listening ear, a shoulder to lean on and helping hands whenever needed. The church, a crisis pregnancy centre, an adoption agency, counselling services, can all help to mitigate the situation and intervene meaningfully to ensure the wellbeing of the mother and the life of the child.
It would be instructive to compare the number of abortions that are the result of rape or misfortune with abortions that are requested simply because of irresponsible sex. If a woman does not want to get pregnant, is it unreasonable to expect her to use a suitable contraceptive method with a regular partner, or to avoid casual sex, one-night stands and sex for favours? If she thinks that her regular partner is not father material, or that her position in life regarding education, career, finances, emotions, or any other thing, would make pregnancy a bad idea, why not choose ‘safe sex’? Rather than providing anecdotal evidence to support their claims, those who have brought a constitutional challenge to the nation’s abortion laws need to act responsibly. They need to present solid scientific facts and grounded research statistics to show why the State of Antigua and Barbuda or the Republic of Dominica should unravel their moral fabric and change laws – at best – to accommodate irresponsible sexual behaviour or – at worst – to facilitate murder of innocent, unborn human beings.
Doctors, hurting, ambitious or ‘liberated’ women, activists, journalists, politicians, Tom, Dick and Harry, Mary, Jane, and Sue, may rationalize the issue of abortion. Skilled lawyers may argue successfully that it is a woman’s right, and judges may concur. But making it legal can never make it right. The Judge of all the earth still stamps it – wrong.
