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Grandmother's Account of Traumatizing Experience with Abortion Moves Jamaican Parliamentarians to Tears

By Jonquil Frankham

KINGSTON, Jamaica, November 21, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A recent presentation by a woman who 20 years ago bullied her daughter into having an abortion reduced members of the Jamaican parliament to tears, reports the Jamaica Gleaner. 

Anne Arthur, a grief counselor, told the parliament she has never fully recovered from having bullied her daughter into killing her unborn child. "I drove my daughter to the abortion clinic like a lamb to the slaughterhouse, against her will," Arthur told her audience.

"I pressed my views on her and convinced her that she would be unable to care for the child while studying and an abortion would be the best thing to do, offering her no other solution or help … While my 12-week-old grand-daughter was ripped apart from my daughter's womb, I knew with brutal clarity that I had made the greatest mistake of my life," said Arthur.

Arthur told the parliamentary gathering that she does not support abortion under any circumstances now, even under the usual exceptions of rape and incest. She said that her 41-year old daughter, now married, has had trouble conceiving because of the damage the abortion, which was performed legally in Germany, caused.

Arthur’s presentation was part of a debate over the legalization of abortion in Jamaica. Sections 72 and 73 of the country’s Offences against the Person Act currently punish participation in abortion with a sentence of up to life imprisonment. However, an advisory group established by former Health Minister John Junor found that increases in maternal fatality are purportedly due to illegal and unsafe abortions, as LifeSiteNews reported November 14th. The advisory group pushed for the legalization of abortion as the solution to the problem.

Dr. Doreen Brady West of the Coalition for the Defense of Life, however, told the Jamaican parliament last week that she is doubtful legalizing abortions will decrease maternal mortality. Rather, she argued, illegal and unsafe abortions are very minor contributors to the maternal death rate in Jamaica. The real solution, she said, is in better antenatal care.

The debate over abortion in Jamaica has been emotionally charged and deeply controversial. As reported by LifeSiteNews, graphic video depictions of abortions have been shown to the parliament, prompting some to leave the room and many to avert their eyes in discomfort.

As the Gleaner reported, Arthur maintained that the legalization of abortion in Jamaica would merely result in a dramatic increase in abortions, as happened in both Germany and the United States, and not the protection of expectant mothers.

Previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

Jamaica Parliament Views Graphic Abortion Videos While Considering Decriminalizing Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08111403.html

Jamaican Nurses Oppose Government Plan to Decriminalize Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08050608.html

Jamaican Religious and Civic Leaders Respond to Proposal to Decriminalize Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08021109.html

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