Culture,Tradition,and Faith in Global Women's Health

Abstract

The legalization of elective induced abortion which swept through many developed Western nations continues as a social and political issue in the Caribbean. Since 2005, Jamaica has been the focus of an attempt to legalize abortion, and the strategies employed bear broad similarities to those which have operated in other jurisdictions, including somewhat clandestine attempts to establish a “rights-based” approach to women's reproductive health. This intervention by non-Jamaican organizations includes two invalid assumptions: 1) A falsely inflated rate of abortions, which are illegal in Jamaica and therefore labeled “unsafe”; and 2) the role of abortion in Jamaica as a “major cause” of maternal mortality. Investigation by the Statistical Institute and National Family Planning Board invalidates both assumptions. The origin of the “rights based” approach of “full access,” initiated and sustained by international NGOs, was mediated via an “abortion consultant” closely linked to the Johannesburg Initiative, a blueprint for implementation of unrestricted abortion, and the APRAG recommendations aimed at providing de facto unrestricted abortion throughout pregnancy. This interference in national sovereignty on the part of international NGOs occurs despite surveys illustrating that the vast majority of Jamaicans (64%) specifically reject the notion of a “right” to abortion based on evidence rooted in biology, natural law and justice, women's health, sociology, and economics. The Jamaican legal protection of the unborn as an ethical and cultural norm necessitates its contextualization in a triad which equally emphasizes the stability of the family and support for women.