Call for abortion rethink for ‘woman’s right to choose’
A government senator shocked by a woman being denied an abortion has called for Bermudians to reflect on changing restrictions imposed on a woman’s right to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy.
Arianna Hodgson, the Junior Minister for Labour, Finance and Health, raised the issue during the Motion to Adjourn in the Senate yesterday, after being contacted by a woman who recently discovered she was pregnant — and had her decision to abort overturned by a medical committee.
The Senate heard that two other female senators agreed with her view that all women in Bermuda should have the right to choose.
Ms Hodgson told the Upper House that the woman and her partner had considered their pregnancy and come to the conclusion that it would not be in their best interests to proceed.
“I cannot begin to express what I felt when I learnt that her application had been denied and that the Therapeutic Abortion Committee would not be authorising the termination of her pregnancy,” Ms Hodgson said.
“Beyond the mental and physical toll, there was a strong element of financial hardship, which led to this decision to terminate her pregnancy.”
Termination of a pregnancy is legal in Bermuda but permission is only granted under circumstances such as a health threat, incest or sexual assault.
By law, the decision lies with a body called the Therapeutic Abortion Committee.
The group comprises “obstetricians, a psychiatrist and a general practitioner” according to the Bermuda Hospitals Board’s bylaws for medical staff.
BHB’s terms and conditions for medical staff state that the committee “reviews and advises the Medical Staff Committee on all requests for the termination of pregnancy and ensures that the information on which the request is based is complete and sufficient to justify the procedure”.
Ms Hodgson cited the Criminal Code Act 1907, which states that a therapeutic abortion can only proceed if, in the opinion of a medical practitioner, the pregnancy has been “the result of an incestuous relationship”.
Permission also applies under various sexual assaults listed in the criminal code under sections 323, 324, 325 or 326 “upon the said female person”.
She noted that termination of pregnancy is also permissible if the panel decides that “the continuation of the pregnancy of such female person would or would be likely to endanger her life or health; or in its opinion there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped”.
Ms Hodgson told senators: “I have been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting over the past few days — and that is because, while some have, I have never personally heard of anybody being denied an abortion.
“We often say that the problems we face in Bermuda are typically global issues and so we in Bermuda are not removed from the challenges that women around the world are facing on a day-to-day basis.
“The truth is that women’s ability to access safe and legal abortions are often restricted in law or in practice in many countries around the world.”
Ms Hodgson said she could not know what “every other woman believes in this room”, but that she believed “every woman should have the right to choose” — and that government senator Lindsay Simmons echoed her view.
She added: “I hope my comments will force each of us to consider what we believe and then, once we have determined what we believe, to take it a step further and decide whether we would like to see our government advance legislative amendments that will preserve a woman’s right to choose.”
Kiernan Bell, the Vice-President of the Senate, associated herself with Ms Hodgson’s comments.
Ms Bell added: “She now knows what my views are, which 100 per cent support hers.”
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