The fight that millions of women in the United States of America are engaged in over a range of reproductive rights issues including legal access to safe abortions, has found its way into Barbados.
Roman Catholic Bishop of Barbados Neil Sebastian Scantlebury weighed in on the issue last month, throwing his support behind the US Supreme Court decision to reverse the 1973 constitutional decision on Roe v Wade.
Incredulously, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas even suggested that the highest court should also take another look at women’s rights to contraceptives, among other issues.
The controversial Supreme Court decision has effectively thrown the matter of abortions back to individual states, most of which are led by Republicans who seek to ban abortions.
These overzealous politicians who are mostly old, white, and privileged men, seek to criminalise women who want to terminate their pregnancy no matter the reason or circumstance.
A similar criminal punishment, including imprisonment and hefty fines would also hang over the heads of doctors who undertake or assist with such medical procedures.
Our local Catholic Bishop also took a very dogmatic position and came in for a lashing from some rights advocates including radio talk show host Peter Wickham.
The Catholic Church has not rescinded its opposition on termination of pregnancies, and so the Bishop’s missive was not unexpected. Thankfully, women in Barbados see no immediate threat to their right to legal abortions, a matter that has been settled for decades in this country.
However, issues that often appear benign and limited to the American borders, very often find their way to our shores. We have examples such as the spread of COVID-19 misinformation, the powerful anti-vax movement, and even the despotism spouted by former American president Donald Trump have found fertile ground among our otherwise educated population.
And so, we should not dismiss the debate over abortions and women’s access to reproductive health including contraceptives and the “emergency pill”.
We are stunned that in 2022 , American women, in fear of criminal prosecution, are increasingly considering tubal ligation procedures to permanently prevent pregnancy.
Open and frank discussion on abortion and women’s reproductive health is not common in Barbados. The widely held view is that these are matters of privacy and should be decided by women, their loved ones, and their doctors.
There will be medical debates on abortions, legal debates and moral debates. What we believe has no place is for any one side to dig in so deep that they cannot appreciate the views of others.
American women were given the legal right to abortion some 50 years ago. In Barbados we codified legal access to abortions in our Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1983, just over 10 years after Roe v Wade.
Dame Billie Miller, a former deputy prime minister of Barbados and a leading advocate for women’s reproductive health rights, was a vocal and unabashed proponent of the legislation.
Women must continue to be empowered to make informed choices about their bodies, their health and economic future. They should not be criminalized and bullied by the state.
Women carry the burden of childbirth, the bulk of child care and rearing. In a relationship, they are frequently the person responsible for ensuring pregnancy does not occur.
Economic and social conditions often drive women’s decisions about having children. We have witnessed how women and their children often struggle and are exposed to exploitation, deprivation and poverty when families are poor, too large, and lack the support structures.
Girls and women are likely to find themselves with unplanned pregnancies as a result of misinformation and fear about contraceptives, lack of access to or use of contraceptives, and sadly, from rape, incest, and other forced sexual encounters.
Women’s vulnerabilities are always greater than men’s when it comes to sexual exploitation. Just recently, the Barbados Police Service warned women to exercise care when out socializing because of the increasing risk of their drinks being spiked with date rape drugs.
Women and girls ought to have the right to access legal, safe abortions, if termination of pregnancy is their desire.
We do not want to return to the dark days when women and girls used all sorts of implements, plants, other harmful or deadly concoctions and acts of self-harm to bring about termination of their pregnancy.
