The Editor, Sir:

Jamaicans think of Barbados as that conservative island that barely fits in the Caribbean.

Yet, quietly, 25 years ago on February 11, 1983, the then Governor-General D.H.L. Ward gave his assent to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act which broadly extended the conditions for legal abortions there.

We are still struggling to catch up. That was possible in Barbados for two main reasons. First, medical doctors who treated complications of abortion in Queen Elizabeth Hospital were angered at the unnecessary harm women faced day after day.

They pressured their colleague obstetricians and gynaecologists to take leadership in raising what they experienced as an issue of maternal health. They made the fact-based case.

Took the case forward

Second, in Parliament, Billie Miller, then minister of health, took the case forward - quietly. In a small society, she took a stand and spoke to one religious leader after another, typically in their homes or at their churches.

She did not flinch and she did not scream. She avoided the headlines. She appealed to the religious leaders to allow the law to go forward. She made the value-based case.

Those who oppose making abortion more broadly legal create a very misleading illusion. They build this fear of a sudden avalanche of abortions.

Give everyone choice

That is simply nonsense. The law of abortion is not one of compulsion. It is one of permission. The law does not force anyone to have an abortion. Indeed, it protects women against coerced abortions, whether from partners or parents.

The law is like a passport: it does not compel anyone to travel; it regulates the right to travel for those who care to do so. In effect, the law gives everyone choice.

So those who 'oppose' abortion remain free to continue with their unwanted pregnancies. They are completely unaffected. And those who want to end their pregnancy can have access to safe, lawful termination.

Our conservative neighbour saw the light 25 years ago, and acted. We are still stuck in a moral illusion and permit a loud minority to impose its view on the silent majority.

I am, etc.,

FREDERICK E. NUNES

ydelph@aol.com

Silver Spring,

Maryland, US

Via Go-Jamaica