Jamaica – Abortion was made legal 30 years ago

Dr. Fred Nunes - Stabroek News (letter to editor)
May 4, 2025

Late on the evening of Thursday May 4, 1995, the National Assembly passed the controversial Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill. That was 30 years ago today.

This was the first and only party-free vote in our history. The parties released their members from the stranglehold of parity discipline and left them free to vote according to their conscience. This was even more significant because it happened during a period of declared non-cooperation by the PNC Opposition.

Continued: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2025/05/04/opinion/letters/abortion-was-made-legal-30-years-ago/

04.05.2025

Opinion

Dr. Fred Nunes

Jamaica abortion law

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill

Jamaica – JFJ pushes for abortion to be legalised

Sat December 2, 2023
(and 48-second podcast by Mickel Jackson, Executive Director of Jamaicans for Justice)

Human rights group Jamaicans for Justice has added its voice to those advocating for the decriminalizing of abortion.

Government MP Juliet Cuthbert Flynn and her Opposition colleague Lisa Hannah have both, on separate occasions, called for parliamentary action to amend the country's abortion law.

Continued: https://radiojamaicanewsonline.com/local/jfj-pushes-for-abortion-to-be-legalised

02.12.2023

News

abortion law reform

Jamaicans For Justice

Juliet Cuthbert Flynn

Lisa Hannah

Mickel Jackson

Offences Against the Person Act

Jamaica – Accessing safe abortions is a fundamental human right

Jun 12, 2023
Lamar Grant, Policy and advocacy manager, TransWave Jamaica

Dear Editor,
I pen this letter with a mix of incredulity and concern in response to the recent comments made by Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte regarding her lack of support for abortion.

While I appreciate the diversity of opinions in our society, it is disheartening to witness such a regressive stance on an issue as crucial as reproductive rights. Allow me to articulate the profound importance of safe abortions and advocate for the protection of pro-choice policies.

Continued: https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/accessing-safe-abortions-is-a-fundamental-human-right/

12.06.2023

Opinion

Lamar Grant

Marlene Malahoo Forte

Jamaica – Church leaders, JFJ differ over Malahoo Forte’s abortion stance

Friday | June 9, 2023
Ainsworth Morris

NUMEROUS CHURCH leaders from various denominations across the island are happy with comments made by Marlene Malahoo Forte, minister of legal and constitutional affairs, which she stated in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The church leaders have thrown their support behind Malahoo Forte after she said that the Government did not intend to disturb any savings law clauses in the Constitution or repeal pre-existing laws that would go against fundamental beliefs held by the Church.

Continued: https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20230609/church-leaders-jfj-differ-over-malahoo-fortes-abortion-stance

09.06.2023

News

Alvin Bailey

anti-choice misogyny

Jamaicans For Justice

Jenni Campbell

Marlene Malahoo Forte

Jamaica – Buggery, abortion laws won’t be changed during constitutional reform process

Wednesday | June 7, 2023

Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte yesterday sought to allay fears among members of the religious community, disclosing that the Government did not intend to disturb any savings law clauses in the Constitution or repeal pre-existing laws that would go against fundamental beliefs held by the Church.

In her contribution to the Sectoral Debate in Parliament on Tuesday, Malahoo Forte “put to ease” concerns held by the Christian community regarding any changes that might be made to savings clauses in the Constitution.

Continued: https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20230607/buggery-abortion-laws-wont-be-changed-during-constitutional-reform

07.06.2023

News

Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms

Marlene Malahoo Forte

religion and abortion

Jamaica – Church hypocrisy on abortion

Junior minister Cuthbert-Flynn lashes religious leaders for ignoring rapists, men who impregnate teens

Monday, May 03, 2021
BY BRITTNY HUTCHINSON

CHURCH leaders came in for strong lashing yesterday for their strident opposition to the decriminalisation of abortion while remaining mostly silent concerning men who rape and impregnate women and girls, often forcing them to abort the pregnancy.

Seemingly a lone voice in the parliamentary wilderness as she battles for decriminalising of abortions — pre-term removal of the foetus from the uterus — junior minister for health and wellness Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn also wants the men who put women in that situation to be punished, including being sent to prison.

Continued: https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/front-page/church-hypocrisy-on-abortion-junior-minister-cuthbert-flynn-lashes-religious-leaders-for-ignoring-rapists-men-who-impregnate-teens_220538

Argentina’s Abortion Legislation Sparks Hope in Caribbean

February 14, 2021
By Kate Chappell (IPS)

HAVANA TIMES – It was a joyful, tearful celebration in the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 2020 for countless Argentinians when they heard the news: the senate had legalized terminations up to 14 weeks of pregnancy. Prior to this, activists have said that more than 3,000 women died of botched, illegal abortions since 1983. And across the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, this renewed sense of optimism was compounded after President Joe Biden rescinded what is known as the “global gag rule,” which essentially denied funding to international non-profit organizations that provided abortion counseling or referrals.

Now, women and campaigners across LAC are hopeful that these developments will spur lawmakers to consider decriminalizing abortion in their countries, sparing women their lives, economic well-being, dignity and access to a range of options to make the best choice for their reproductive and overall health.

Continued: https://havanatimes.org/features/argentinas-abortion-legislation-sparks-hope-in-caribbean/

Jamaica – No referendum on abortion

WE-Change
Jamaica
Tuesday | February 9, 2021

We have been
here before. We were here in 1975 when Health Minister Kenneth McNeill, after
his recognition of the high mortality rate of Jamaican mothers and the increase
in complications as a result of unsafe abortion practices, placed the need for
amendments to the 1865 Act to allow for abortions in special circumstances
(cases on incest, statutory rape, and carnal abuse).

We were here in 2007, when Minister Horace Dalley commissioned the Abortion
Policy Review Group to engage research about the landscape of abortion in
Jamaica and they presented a document with recommendations on a potential way
forward. We were here in 2018 and 2019, when MP Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn put forth
a motion to repeal the sections of the Offences Against the Person Act that
makes abortions illegal and replace it with civil law, Termination of Pregnancy
Act.

Continued: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/letters/20210209/letter-day-no-referendum-abortion

Jamaica – Abolishing our antiquated abortion law

Alando N. Terrelonge
Published:Tuesday | February 9, 2021

True gender equality cannot be achieved unless and until we relinquish our pervasive desire to enslave, control, and police the body and dignity of women. A woman must have the very basic human right and freedom to make autonomous decisions concerning her own body. Our common humanity demands that we respect the humanity of all our women and abolish our antiquated abortion law, which shackles true female empowerment beneath the brutal and agonising whip of a misogynistic and patriarchal era that ought to be obsolete. Regrettably, the present national discussion and debate surrounding abortion has resurfaced the expected fire and brimstone temperatures of controversy. That we can debate and argue any matter with freedom and without fear as a modern democracy is good and commendable. However, it matters that the debate and arguments remain fair.

Continued: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/commentary/20210209/alando-n-terrelonge-abolishing-our-antiquated-abortion-law

09.02.2021

Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn

Jamaica – Churches must back off from abortion issue, says Reverend

Sunday | February 7, 2021
Corey Robinson - Senior Staff Reporter

Discussions on abortion should not be limited to religion and morality, and according to one man of the cloth, if the churches are not prepared to consider the social implications of the practice, they best take a back pew and leave the discussion solely to the policymakers.

Straight-talking Anglican cleric, the Reverend Sean Major-Campbell – while reinforcing his long-standing view that Christianity is only effective so far as its relevance to the lives of people – said church leaders who take a myopic approach on the abortion discussion are doing a disservice to Jamaican women.

Continued: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20210207/churches-must-back-abortion-issue-says-reverend