Tweet
INTEREST groups held mixed views on whether women should consult their male partners before having an abortion as deliberations on the controversial report of the Abortion Policy Review Advisory Group continued in Parliament last Thursday.
Joan French, a member of the Planning Institute of Jamaica's Working Group on Reproductive Health and Rights, slapped down the suggestion saying the view was outdated.
In her presentation to the Joint Select Committee of Parliament deliberating the report - which also called for the decriminalisation and legalisation of abortion - French argued that "a woman is an individual in her own right and (since) the decision affects her body and her life in fundamental ways, she should be able to decide without interference".
"Voices have been raised in the past suggesting that male partners participate in making this decision. This is unacceptable. Her right to make her own decision should not be sacrificed to patriarchal norms which are outmoded in the arena of enlightened parliamentary decision-making," French told the committee.
But others have disagreed.
Lanny Davidson, a member of parenting group Fathers' Incorporated and founder of Fathers in Action, was adamant that "the father should have a say in the matter".
"Barring rape, the father should have a choice. He should have some say in the matter. In other words, for example, my wife gets pregnant and she decides she doesn't want to look after another child, my choice would be have that child and I will raise that child myself. You can waive your parental rights after birth, but bring the child full term," he insisted.
Founder of Fathers' Inc and social anthropologist Professor Barry Chevannes, said the suggestion that men be excluded was unreasonably harsh and "one-sided".
"I think that a pregnancy is the result of a relationship. A woman does not get pregnant by herself. It takes two people to make a baby and therefore it's a decision that ought to involve men," he told the Observer.
"Let's assume that it's not rape; let's assume that it is consensual. How does it help a relationship for a woman to, of her own volition, terminate a pregnancy without at least a discussion with the man?" he questioned.
Meanwhile, Christina Milford, director of the Pregnancy Resource Centre in Montego Bay - who herself considered abortion after becoming pregnant when she was raped at age 18 and now counsels pregnant and post-abortive couples - said men suffer when their mates have abortions.
"Men suffer. Not all of them, but there are some who want their children and they are powerless when the woman makes that kind of decision... and many of them know after the fact," Milford told the Observer.
"Once during a session on abortion one young man said 'miss change the subject because when the girl tell mi she abort mi baby mi mad fi three months'. He was seriously affected, he started drinking excessively he said he felt like he was sleeping his life away. He was in deep depression," Milford shared.
She added: "If you research, you might find that men are suffering as much and therefore I think a man should have his say about what happens to his child.
"A lot of Jamaican women are now suffering having made that decision they can't take back. I have never met a woman who made a choice against abortion and chose to have the child and not be joyful about that child afterwards," she added.
The working group is an ad hoc body set up to make policy recommendations to the Jamaican government on issues affecting the reproductive health and rights of women.
..
Joan French, a member of the Planning Institute of Jamaica's Working Group on Reproductive Health and Rights, slapped down the suggestion saying the view was outdated.
In her presentation to the Joint Select Committee of Parliament deliberating the report - which also called for the decriminalisation and legalisation of abortion - French argued that "a woman is an individual in her own right and (since) the decision affects her body and her life in fundamental ways, she should be able to decide without interference".
"Voices have been raised in the past suggesting that male partners participate in making this decision. This is unacceptable. Her right to make her own decision should not be sacrificed to patriarchal norms which are outmoded in the arena of enlightened parliamentary decision-making," French told the committee.
But others have disagreed.
Lanny Davidson, a member of parenting group Fathers' Incorporated and founder of Fathers in Action, was adamant that "the father should have a say in the matter".
"Barring rape, the father should have a choice. He should have some say in the matter. In other words, for example, my wife gets pregnant and she decides she doesn't want to look after another child, my choice would be have that child and I will raise that child myself. You can waive your parental rights after birth, but bring the child full term," he insisted.
Founder of Fathers' Inc and social anthropologist Professor Barry Chevannes, said the suggestion that men be excluded was unreasonably harsh and "one-sided".
"I think that a pregnancy is the result of a relationship. A woman does not get pregnant by herself. It takes two people to make a baby and therefore it's a decision that ought to involve men," he told the Observer.
"Let's assume that it's not rape; let's assume that it is consensual. How does it help a relationship for a woman to, of her own volition, terminate a pregnancy without at least a discussion with the man?" he questioned.
Meanwhile, Christina Milford, director of the Pregnancy Resource Centre in Montego Bay - who herself considered abortion after becoming pregnant when she was raped at age 18 and now counsels pregnant and post-abortive couples - said men suffer when their mates have abortions.
"Men suffer. Not all of them, but there are some who want their children and they are powerless when the woman makes that kind of decision... and many of them know after the fact," Milford told the Observer.
"Once during a session on abortion one young man said 'miss change the subject because when the girl tell mi she abort mi baby mi mad fi three months'. He was seriously affected, he started drinking excessively he said he felt like he was sleeping his life away. He was in deep depression," Milford shared.
She added: "If you research, you might find that men are suffering as much and therefore I think a man should have his say about what happens to his child.
"A lot of Jamaican women are now suffering having made that decision they can't take back. I have never met a woman who made a choice against abortion and chose to have the child and not be joyful about that child afterwards," she added.
The working group is an ad hoc body set up to make policy recommendations to the Jamaican government on issues affecting the reproductive health and rights of women.
..
he has no say whatsoever.
Comment