The Law Reform Commission has recommended legalising abortion in the Cayman Islands.
Procuring an abortion is currently against the law in Cayman, unless done to save the life of the mother, and is listed as an offence in the Penal Code – a situation that the commission members described as “draconian”.
The Law Reform Commission, which had been tasked with reviewing the Penal Code to ensure it aligns with the Bill of Rights, has recommended that the offence of procuring an abortion should be repealed and replaced with standalone legislation “to provide access to and regulate abortion”.
The commission made the recommendation in a report that was submitted recently to Attorney General Samuel Bulgin, who had requested the review of the Penal Code in 2017. It is expected that the report, which includes draft legislation, will be sent to Cabinet for consideration.
Commission: No justification for criminal sanctions
In the report, the commission, which consists of six members of the legal sector, stated, “Regardless of the position taken on providing an abortion (or the means for one), applying criminal sanctions to a woman seeking an abortion is a draconian measure,” for which there is no justification.
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.
There have been no recorded instances of the Penal Code being used to prosecute someone who has undergone an abortion in Cayman.
Hector Robinson, KC, chairman of the Law Reform Commission, told the Compass on Thursday that once the report was handed over to the attorney general and Cabinet, it was up to them to consider and decide whether to adopt the proposed legislation, make changes to that draft legislation, or possibly do nothing with it.
“It’s down to the specific policies of the government,” he said on whether the recommendations of the commission would be accepted and implemented.
The recommendation to loosen Cayman’s strict abortion laws is in stark contrast with the United States, where federal rights allowing pregnancy terminations was overturned in 2022, leaving the issue in the hands of the individual states.
‘Strongly held’ views
Members of the public had an opportunity to put their thoughts on the issue to the commission after it produced a discussion paper and launched a subsequent public consultation on that paper between 21 Dec. 2021 and 15 March 2022.
Robinson said the opinions of respondents on both sides of the issue during that public consultation had been “strongly held”, but the majority of those who took part had been in favour of legalising abortion.
He said the commission had based its recommendations on feedback from the public, as well as research the commissioners and staff had carried out, the Bill of Rights and international practices.
Robinson, while noting there is no evidence of a person being prosecuted for having an abortion, said pregnant women and girls in Cayman are getting abortions, either overseas if they can afford to travel or locally if they cannot.
He said there was “no doubt” that abortions were taking place in the Cayman Islands, adding that such terminations may be happening in ways that are unsafe.
Because they are against the law, the pregnant woman may be reluctant to then seek medical attention or medical practitioners may be hesitant to assist, he said.
It was such safety considerations, as well as breaches of human rights, that formed the basis for the commission’s recommendations.
Recommendations
The commission made a total of 11 recommendations in its report.
Among those was a recommendation to repeal the section of the Penal Code banning abortions because “the current restrictions on accessing abortion present unacceptable health risks to women and girls, create the potential for inhuman or degrading treatment of women and girls, interfere with reproductive autonomy and discriminate against women and girls”.
It also called for the introduction of legislation that provides clear parameters for healthcare providers to ensure women and girls can access high-quality, evidence-based abortion care.
The report includes a recommendation that abortion should be permitted without restriction up to 24 weeks’ gestation. After that period, the commissioners recommended abortions be allowed only in certain circumstances.
Those would include, for example, if the continuation of the pregnancy would result in a risk to the physical or mental health of the woman that is greater than if the pregnancy were terminated; there is a substantial risk that the foetus is likely to die before, during or shortly after birth; or if the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or mental impairment as to be seriously disabled.
The commission also agreed with recommendations of the World Health Organization and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service that clinical bodies should regulate which health practitioners can perform abortions.
It added that it also accepts recommendations from the WHO and BPAS “that clear parameters be provided in relation to conscientious objection that strike a balance between protecting conscientious objectors and ensuring that such protections do not impede a woman’s ability to obtain an abortion”.
The commissioners advised that legislation should specify that a medical practitioner who is a conscientious objector cannot be required to participate in the provision of an abortion “unless it is necessary to save the life of a woman”, but must inform the woman of her right to seek healthcare from another practitioner and ensure that she has sufficient information to do so.
While recommending removing the section of the Penal Code that makes it an offence to carry out an abortion, the commission was in favour of creating an offence for the termination of pregnancy – through a procedure or provision of drugs – by unqualified individuals, “in order to safeguard the health and safety of women and girls seeking abortions”.
Read the full report here.
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Since this procedure was legalised in the UK the number of times it has been used is gross, when one considers that sentient babies in the womb are, constitutionally, human persons and distinct from the mother’s own body.
Ironically, these are the very times a bill for assisted suicide is set to being put before the UK parliament. It is certain that if passed, many elderly persons would take the option of putting themselves to death, rather than struggling to pay their own bills.
Where, the reader may ask, is the irony?
It is precisely in that through abortion and other factors, the funding necessary to sustain the elderly adequately becomes increasingly insufficient.
A culture of abortion is the ultimate sign of a self-destructing society.
Yea It seems like Cayman is moving into the 21st century. What right does government have over a woman to make a chose about what to do with her own body, By the way if a woman can’t get an abortion is the guy who did it have any responsibility???