The new Crime Decree 2009 to come into effect in February has many commendable features; one understandable feature (on prostitution) is an improvement but prostitution is still illegal; and one feature (on abortion) that one reader calls "draconian." The Decree is taking a while to be published on the Government website so my comment is based on media releases only. First the commendable features:
And now the less commendable: the limited grounds for legal abortion (only where pregnancy would cause danger to the pregnant woman's life) and the "draconian" penalties for breaking the law (medical practitioner, up to 14 years imprisonment; self-induced abortion 7 years). Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, speaking of other parts of the Decree, said it brought Fiji into the 21st century. The abortion provisions most certainly do not do this. Most Western and Asian countries now make properly supervised abortion legal on several grounds that include the physical, mental and emotional health of the woman; teenage pregnancy; foetal abnormality or impairment; transfer of a serious congenital condition to the child; rape, and incest. As far as one can tell, Fiji makes no provision except for the danger of the woman losing her life. If international records are valid for Fiji, far more deaths will now occur due to illegal abortions.
The whole question, of course, has gender-biased, moral, cultural and religious overtones. The Fiji Daily Post claims abortion "goes against all religion" when, in fact, abortion only goes against certain interpretations of the sacred books of two major religions --- that also proscribe fornication, adultery and other "sins", none of which are punishable in Fiji civil law.
But the issue also has goverance implications. A major problem of legislating by Decree is that proposed legislation gets inadequate airing. I wonder how many women, and how many non-Christian, non-Muslim and non-religious people were consulted on this one. A Government concerned for the well-being of all its citizens should consult very widely, and not impose its religious values on those not sharing these values.
They should also show more compassion and make more allowance for human error (""Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.") I would like to hear how the Minister of Health, Dr Jiko Luweni, a doctor and the sole female member of Cabinet, explain her support for this legislation.
Photo: Dr Jiko Luweni. Fiji Daily Post.
4 comments:
The abortion provisions of this decree are a disgrace - a recipe for illegality and untold misery for the sake of pandering to the same old self righteous hypocrites who cast their shadow on every aspect of national life. The double standards in Fiji when it comes to social behaviour are breathtaking. We all know countless stories of the supposedly pious not practicing what they preach. You'd think that when you don't have the strictures of parliament to contend with, it's the perfect time for someone like the Attorney General to push through enlightened legislation that better reflects the reality of everyday life in Fiji. But no, let's just make it more likely that the lives of our young people will be blighted by unwanted pregnancies and backyard abortions. The penalties for medical practitioners are especially shameful when any doctor will tell you how hard it is to deal personally and professionally with the competing demand of compassion for the individual and respect for the state. All this has the unfortunate whiff of policy dictated to the dictator by Archbishop Mataca and rest of the gruesome religious lobby. Suffer the children.
I agree with Croz that the abortion provisions are terrible. However, I don't know if it is correct to say far more deaths will occur. What was the previous law on abortion? I thought it was pretty much the same. There was one recent report of a women dying from a backyard abortion and I think this has been happening for some time. I think this new decree just keeps the status quo with the previous laws, bad as they were. So the interim government could be blamed for not taking this opportunity to modernise these laws, but not for the laws themselves. There obviously was not enough desire to start this fight with the Methodist church. Pity. Remember there are strong religious, even fundamentalist, views in the interim government.
One persons view I would love to hear on this is Shamima Ali's. This is the type of issue she should be trying to fight for womens rights. Would she go against the SDL/Methodist church viewpoint? However, with her total negativity to any issue regarding the interim government, even when they improve womens rights, this would mean her views would have little credibility or influence.
What about the rights of a child? The abortion legislation and law here in NZ is really nothing to be proud of. I hope Fiji never gets to be anywhere near like the NZ standard when it comes to the issue of abortion. We almost have abortion on demand here. We also need to remember that the Fijian culture is very different than in NZ. Maybe in Fiji there needs to be more support for those who have an unwanted pregnancy. There are a lot of people here in NZ who would LOVE to adopt a baby from Fiji and give the baby a chance of life. There also needs to be better sex education programmes taught to the young people in Fiji before anything else.
Mj. You are right on the law except that the penalties are now so high qualified medical people will be more reluctant to help. Hence the number of backyard abortions is likely to increase -- wit more deaths.
White Frangipani. Your pro-life position is respected. I know my friend Fr Barr won't aqree with me on this. But many Fiji citizens are not Fijian or Christian. Abortion should not be on demand, but it should be permited on wider grounds than the current law allows.
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