The Law Reform Commission is set to consider finalising its recommendations for amendments to Cayman’s abortion legislation at its upcoming meeting in July.
This will be the second consecutive meeting at which the commission will attempt to finalise its draft report on the law, under which abortion is a criminal offence.
The commission, tasked with reviewing Cayman’s statutes to modernise them and ensure they are in line with the Bill of Rights, considered the report at its meeting on 16 May, but it was not finalised.
José Griffith, director of the Law Reform Commission, told the Compass on Friday, “The Commission considered the draft report at its meeting on 16 May and will continue deliberations at its next meeting on 25 July with a view to approving the report for submission to the Attorney General.”
He added that, at that time, the report will be published publicly.
The commission has been reviewing Cayman’s 140-page Penal Code – the legislation established in 1975 that covers many criminal offences and their penalties – under which it is illegal to procure an abortion by any means, unless the life of the pregnant woman is at risk.
The commission members have decided to deal with abortion separately to the overhaul of the Penal Code.
In a discussion paper in December 2021, the commission invited feedback from the public on the issue. It asked a series of questions, including if abortion should be removed from the Penal Code and separate legislation drawn up.
It also asked if the Penal Code should be amended to expand the grounds for legal abortion in certain circumstances, for example, where there is a threat to the pregnant woman’s physical or mental health; where the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest; where there is a severe foetal impairment, including fatal foetal abnormality; or where the pregnancy involves a minor; among others.
Griffith told the Cayman Compass in an interview last month, prior to the commission’s 16 May meeting, that responses to the discussion paper from members of the public and stakeholders were “quite robust”, including those for and against amending legislation relating to abortion.
The Penal Code does not set out a specific penalty for abortion-related offences, but states that, in instances where no punishment is specially provided for an offence, it is punishable with imprisonment for four years and with a fine.
No prosecutions
During its research into the matter, the Law Reform Commission said it has not found any instance in which a person was prosecuted for such an offence in Cayman, but pointed out that this does not mean abortions are not being procured here.
The commission has pointed to a 2013 Ministry of Health ‘Adolescent Health and Sexuality Survey’, which found that out of 202 female participants, 9.1% of 15-16 year olds and 8.5% of 17-19 year olds said they had had an abortion.
An investigation by the Cayman Compass in 2022 found that pills to induce an abortion are relatively easy to access on the local black market at a cost of $500.
And in a survey of 252 women, carried out by a University College of the Cayman Islands student in 2022, nearly one-third said they had undergone an abortion, with a fifth of those saying they had ingested pills to do so.
Women and girls in Cayman who seek abortions either must travel off island to secure one or stay on island and ingest illegally obtained pills.
Since the US Supreme Court’s overturning of the Roe v. Wade case in 2022, changes to abortion laws in many US states, which either ban abortion outright or limit the gestation period during which one is available, such as to six weeks in Florida, have made it difficult for Cayman residents to obtain them there.
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Maybe Cayman should come into the 21st century and make abortion legal within reasonable limits. How can you make a teenager have a kid or someone who’s fetus has died continue to carry it????