Abortion to be permitted for special cases ?

Nadira Gunatilleke

COLOMBO: Doctors, parents, several other groups and individuals have pointed out the importance of legalising abortion only for certain occasions such as when a girl is raped and made pregnant by her own father, brother or grandfather.

Therefore opinions will be called from the Sri Lankan public to amend the law to save lives of female children, Child Development and Women's Empowerment Minister Sumedha G. Jayasena said. During an exclusive interview with the `Daily News', Minister Jayasena said that child mothers have become a serious problem since the recent past and it is discovered that 12 per cent of female schoolchildren become pregnant.

As an example there are over 30 school girls who have become pregnant in the Badulla district due to rape committed by organised groups.

A full investigation is now being conducted into this matter. They are children and children cannot become mothers due to health and other practical reasons. This is something abnormal, she said. According to Minister Jayasena, when a girl child is raped and become pregnant that type of child birth does not do any good to the child mother or her baby. It only adds another social and health problem for the country. The doctors' opinion is when children become mothers it causes health problems for both the child mother and her child.

A large number of gynacologists have already extended their support to provide sex education to schoolchildren to prevent rapidly growing child pregnancies.

Since teachers and parents face different problems when trying to provide sex education to their children, it is doctors who are the most suitable to give sex education to schoolchildren in vulnerable districts, the Minister said.

The doctors say that a mother should be allowed to undergo an abortion when the doctors discover that her fetus is abnormal and will be born as a permanently disabled child which will be a life-long burden to himself, his/her mother and for the whole country. When the doctors discover that a mother is carrying an abnormal fetus the mother starts to suffer knowing that she has to look after the child.

It is mothers who look after their disabled children alone. Some mothers die when seek the service of 'clinics' that perform illegal abortions.

Considering all these issues the Ministry will call opinions from the public, especially religious leaders, social organisations and all the other organisations and individuals to amend the existing laws to save the valuable lives of female children, mothers and reduce social burden of the country.