I write in reference to published reports elsewhere of a recent Don Anderson poll which suggests majority of Jamaicans disagree with the right of a woman to determine what happens to her body, as it relates to having an abortion.

Jamaica has not reached the point in which the citizens understand that a democratic society must include the protection of minority groups from the tyranny of the majority.

Legacy of prejudice

Women have suffered from the historical legacy of prejudice, stereotype, discrimination, disadvantage and unjust subordination via all societal institutions, and are still subject to the additional sexist burden of not enjoying the full Constitutional rights of:

Freedom of conscience,

Security of the person, and

Autonomy over one's body.

The personal decision to abort is one that deeply reflects the way the woman thinks about herself and her relationship to others and to society. By prohibiting abortion, the Government unjustly endorses one view regarding abortion at the expense of another.

Forcing a woman to carry a foetus to term, regardless of the circumstances, interferes with the physical and bodily integrity of women, as it subjects women to the physiological trauma and psychological stress of an unwanted pregnancy, as well as trans-generational economic and social consequences of the state-imposed denial of a woman's right to choose.

I respectfully suggest that the focus of the debate should be on strategies to reduce pregnancies, in general, through education, family planning, and the criminal justice system, as well as a deep cultural reflection on the meaning of child rearing in a globalised post-industrial world. However, the equality of women in society must include, at the very minimum, a qualified right of access to medical treatment without fear of criminal sanction.

I am, etc.,

jamaica2canada@gmail.com

ANTONN BROWN

Mandeville, Manchester