Wheel and come again, CAPRI!

Dear Editor,

Among the recommendations put forward by Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) in the abortion debate is that minors should be able to access reproductive health services, including abortion, without parental involvement (Sunday Gleaner, February 7, 2021).

Shocked, confused, and numbed were the words one person used to describe how she felt, just before losing consciousness, when she received the call that her 13year-old daughter had been admitted in hospital due to complications of an abortion, and she was required to give consent for a surgical procedure. Investigations revealed that the teenager had been sexually active for more than a year with a 47-year-old man, and this was her second abortion.

Given the realities of the socio-economic circumstances and the vulnerability of many teenagers to the cultural practice of some male predators of the repugnant “Sugar Daddy’’ lifestyle, readers can decide.

Is CAPRI, by logical extension, also recommending the removal of an age of consent with this proposal?

I hasten to remind CAPRI that for minors to be treated for any medical condition the consent of a parent or guardian is required to safeguard their health and well-being. Many minors do have congenital or other chronic medical conditions of which they have not fully understood the significance. Many factors, like allergies, past and present medical history, are carefully considered by a doctor when treating anyone with even seemingly simple medical conditions like the flu, a headache, and sore throat. And, if legalised, it should even be more so for an abortion with all the potentially serious and even life-threatening complications which can arise, even when done by competent medical personnel. It would, therefore, be ill-advised and irresponsible to treat minors without the consent of a parent or guardian.

I would advise CAPRI to take the time to think things through thoroughly; then, wheel and come again.