The Editor, Sir:

The lead story in The Gleaner today (September 15, 2008), titled 'Abortion fiction', caught my attention. I started reading, thinking I was going to get some facts. Instead what I got was a bit upsetting for several reasons.

Let me first declare that I support a woman's right to choose, though I personally am not in favour of abortions, except in cases where the mother's life is threatened or the foetus has severe disabilties. However, Dr Patrick's 'expert' views, I found offensive to our dignity as Jamaicans. It is not that I don't believe that he may have something to add to the debate, but I was disappointed that the pro-life groups in Jamaica thought that by importing some Canadian from a third-rate college in Ottawa, with absolutely no history of dealing with local abortions, could somehow be persuasive to the debate on abortions in Jamaica. What qualifies him to accuse our local medics of lying?

Foreign credentials

While I am not aware of the full content of his presentation, I would have thought that, as a bioethicist, he would have approached the debate with nuanced arguments in support of his position, solidly backed by fact. Instead, he proceeds to offer us hearsay and suppositions that are not grounded in the facts within our Jamaican context. It's about time we get rid of this notion in Jamaica that if we place an imported white face with foreign credentials at the head of our cause, it somehow makes it legitimate.

I am, etc.,

RICARDO SMALLING

ricardo.smalling@gmail.com

Managing Editor,

Developing World Bioethics

Kingston, Ontario

Canada

Via Go-Jamaica