Abortion is illegal in Sri Lanka in all instances except to save the life of the mother. The existing law, a legacy of colonial rule, has not been revised since 1883. The Government proposed to amend the law to permit abortion in some very limited instances: rape, incest or serious foetal impairment.
The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka has lead a powerful campaign against this, rallying leaders of other religions to its cause and the Government has shelved the proposal.
A group of Catholics has organised a petition to express their opposition to the Church's official stance.
If you are Catholic and would like to sign and support this, please send your name to femcathnet@gmail.com along with any titles and affiliations you would like to include. Please feel free to share this on social media.
The full petition is reproduced below:
Statement from Catholic community in
support of amending Penal Code No. 2 of 1883 and Code of Criminal Procedure Act
No. 15 of 1979 for purposes of extending permitted instances of medical
termination of pregnancy
We, the undersigned members of the
Catholic community, support the proposed amendments that will expand abortion
provisions in cases of rape, incest, and serious foetal impairment.
The amendments do not compel anyone to
have an abortion nor does it permit abortion in general. Rather, it simply decriminalizes
procuring an abortion in two very limited cases. Criminalization of abortion
does not prevent abortion but drives women to seek dangerous illegal abortions.
A study undertaken in the late 1990s estimated that 125,000 to
175,000 induced abortions, mostly illegal are performed annually in Sri Lanka. A
subsequent study estimated a much higher figure of 658 induced abortions per
day, giving an abortion ratio of 741 per 1000 live births.
The latest study estimates that in 2007, 8.7 abortions took place per 100 women.
In the year 2013, the percentage contribution from abortion to maternal
mortality was around 10%, making it the third most common cause of maternal
death.
Furthermore, the Police Department showed that in 2015,
80% of all rape victims were girls under the age of 16.
In light of this information and as
Catholics driven by love and empathy for those in difficult situations, we
object to any barrier that would stop women from making a conscientious choice
of their own free will to seek safe, legal medical care.
We also emphasize that the ‘official’
position put forward by a few clergymen of the Catholic hierarchy makes a false
representation of the opinion of ordinary Catholics. We strongly object to the
campaign they have led against this Bill and find its position antithetical to
the call for radical justice and mercy that is found in the Gospels. Instead,
we follow Catholic teaching and theology in supporting this Bill for the
following reasons.
We support the social conscience of
decriminalizing abortion. As Article 6
of the Catechism of the Catholic Church notes, Catholics “not only may but must follow the dictates of conscience
rather than the teachings of the Church.” Catholics are obliged to know and
thoughtfully consider Catholic teaching, but in the end, a well-formed
conscience reigns.
We support the autonomy of women to make
conscience-based decisions. We find that the most powerful backing for the
autonomy of women itself comes from the many women detailed throughout Scripture,
not least Mother Mary. As O’Neill,
amongst others, note, “Mary’s consent to carrying, birthing and raising
Jesus provides a powerful corrective to rape culture. Mary’s consent
is the most important “yes” in salvation history because with that yes
Mary bore the child of and participated in bringing to fulfilment God’s plan to
redeem the world. God did not send the Holy Spirit to conceive Jesus
without Mary’s consent; Mary’s full verbal consent was required and obtained
before Jesus was conceived. God waited for consent; and it was not
“implied” or “presumed” consent.” Mary’s fiat is a conscious and considered acceptance
of what has been offered.
We maintain that life is precious. To this
end, we support efforts to address the root causes of abortion-seeking, so we
can create a world where every pregnancy is wanted. We support: frank and
timely sex education; gender-sensitive, compassionate, non-judgmental support
networks for people seeking guidance; psychosocial support in reproductive
healthcare; and the Church’s support in addressing national concerns such as
gender-based violence in its physical and psychological form.
We reinforce the Catholic principle of
mercy. We are against the condemnation of any rape victim to being twice
powerless to choose what happens to her body. We are against the psychological
torture of women with non-viable pregnancies through denial of safe abortion
access. We stand with Article 11 of the Sri Lankan constitution that guarantees
that ‘No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment’.
With attention to this principle of mercy,
we call on the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka to prayerfully engage with the
realities of the ground, open up dialogues with those affected, with medical
professionals, frontline workers and women’s rights activists in order to walk
towards a solution that integrates the question of justice and is emblematic of
the richness of Catholic Social Teaching (Laudato Si 62-63).
Furthermore, the Catholic Church should not rely on secular law to
ensure that members of its community follow its teachings. The Bill does not
compel anyone to seek abortion. Members of the Catholic community can continue
to act of their own free will in accordance with their faith.
Articles that further reinforce Catholic support for
access to procured abortion:
- Sara
Abdulla, ‘Can a Foetus Feel Pain?’, Times Higher Education (10 January 1997),
- GreggEasterbrook, ‘What Neither Side Wants You to Know: Abortion and
Brain Waves’, New Republic (31 January 2000), 21–5.
- Paul D.
Simmons, ‘Personhood, the Bible, and the Abortion Debate’ (WashingtonDC:
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, March 2005),
-
Vatican
officials
defend the abortion procured by a 9 year old child raped by her
step-father and impregnated with twins.
[1] Sedgh, Gilda et al. ‘Abortion incidence between 1990
and 2014: global, regional, and subregional levels and trends.’ The Lancet ,
Volume 388 , Issue 10041 , 258 - 267
[2] De Silva IW. The Practice of Induced Abortion in Sri
Lanka, Harvard School of Public Health: Takemi Program in International Health
137, 1997.
[3] Rajapaksa LC. Estimates of induced abortion using RRT
Technique. Colombo, 2000.
[4] Abeykoon ATPL. Estimates of abortion rate in Sri
Lanka using Bongaarts model of proximate determinants of fertility. Colombo:
The United Nations Population Fund, 2012.
[5] Family Health Bureau. Annual Report on Family Health
2013. Colombo: Family Health Bureau, 2014.
http://www.fpasrilanka.org/downloads/UASri.pdf
[7] McBrien, Richard, 1994, Catholicism: New Revised
Version. London: HarperOne.
[8] O’Neill, Kate, 2015, “Mary as the Immaculate
Conception and Rape Culture: Implied Consent and Actual Consent.” Theology and
Culture 3:33
[9] Beattie, Tina, 2010, “Catholicism, Choice and
Consciousness: A Feminist Theological Perspective on Abortion.” International
Journal of Public Theology, Volume 4.
