Dear Editor,
Twenty-five years ago, on May 4, 1995, our National Assembly passed one of our more significant pieces of legislation for social and gender justice, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.
Faced with our current double crises, one political entirely of our making and the other, a global public health pandemic in which we are trapped, we should remember our better moments.
The early 90s were also a period of declared non-cooperation between the PNC and the PPP/Civic. Yet both Jagan and Hoyte rose above that to permit their members to vote freely according to their conscience.
Your paper’s headlines of the following day At Last – abortion bill approved, conveyed the end of some thirty months of sustained public debate.
It is all too easy to be overwhelmed by our present difficulties. We must not lose sight of our significant accomplishments.
The MTPA remains landmark legislation in the region. It was championed by Gail Teixeira and Indra Chandarpal. Their leadership, resolve and persistence were critical.
In the absence of hard data on the impact of the law, we should celebrate the anecdotes of beneficiaries and health professionals while we continue to respect the views of conscientious objectors.
Here is mine. Four or five months after the Regulations were passed in October 1995, I visited the former Abortion Ward. It was totally empty. Before the law, it was typically crowded with patients being treated for complications.
A nurse accosted me: “Why didn’t you tell me this would happen? I had expected the ward to be full of women seeking abortions and I made a fool of myself campaigning against the law!”
We are often driven more by our fears than facts.
We need to capture the narratives of women and health care providers in this still contentious and stigmatized area of maternal health.
Yours faithfully,
Fred Nunes
