Free abortions offered for May riot rape victims

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): More than three months have passed since the May riots, and some rape victims may now be finding their trauma compounded by pregnancy.

There have been no arrests on rape charges and the police claim not one woman has come forward to file a report of rape or sexual assault. Some have even dismissed the reports as untrue and a calculated attempt to blacken the image of Indonesia abroad.

In the continuing climate of fear and distrust, the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Medical Association has made a bold decision to offer free abortions to the victims.

They are stepping into a potential mine field because the procedure is a criminal offense in Indonesia and widely considered a violation of social norms.

"As experts, we feel obliged to help the victims ... we just want to ease the victims' ordeal," the association's chairman, Agus Purwadianto, told The Jakarta Post.

Agus emphasized the abortions would be free.

He said some of the association's members had pledged to join their participation and were willing to run the risk of social condemnation. They are located not only in North Jakarta and West Jakarta, where most of the rapes reportedly took place, but also from the other three mayoralties in the city, he added.

During the riots, about 168 women and children, mostly those of Chinese descent, were reportedly raped and sexually assaulted. Twenty died from the assaults or committed suicide, according to non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Early in July, Kompas daily published a letter from a doctor facing a dilemma in dealing with a 16-year-old patient, Rina, who was pregnant after being raped in the riots. Both Rina and her parents wanted him to perform an abortion, but the doctor believed he had to uphold his Hippocratic oath to respect human life from conception.

Agus said the association would cooperate with NGOs, social agencies and the fact-finding team dealing with rape victims.

"If they find a rape victim who is pregnant because of assault, they can bring her to us if she wants to have an abortion," said Agus, who is also secretary of the association's Medical Ethics Honorary Council and a lecturer in forensic medicine at the University of Indonesia's School of Medicine.

Agus said the organization's doors were open to victims who would prefer to contact them directly. "We'll help them on our own."

He guaranteed the identity of victims and doctors would be kept confidential.

The government established a fact-finding team on July 23 to investigate and seek the instigators of the riots, which many claim were organized. The team comprises representatives of the Armed Forces, government agencies, the National Commission on Human Rights and NGOs.

It is expected to present a report in three months.

Member Saparinah Sadli of the Civil Society on Violence Against Women said the team was still analyzing data and had yet to determine if any victims were now pregnant.

"But, if there were any, I would have no right to announce it," Saparinah told the Post Saturday.

The team will announce its preliminary findings next week, Saparinah said.

Ita Nadia of the Volunteers for Humanity, an NGO which assists the rape victims, said she appreciated the association's offer.

"The decision whether to perform abortions 100 percent depends on the rape victims and their families, not us, and we won't push them."

If the victims decide to opt for an abortion, she said the organization would furnish them with information on the association.

"But if the victims want to keep the pregnancy, we will also assist them, including if they don't want to take care of the babies afterward."

She refused to disclose if she knew of rape victims who were now pregnant.

"That's completely confidential information and we would have to keep it confidential."

She acknowledged the skepticism of some about the rapes.

If they did not believe, she argued, then the people should come up with facts to disprove the reports. "Through their refusal to believe, the people have discouraged those who want to testify."

Law

Abortion carries a maximum four-year prison term under the Criminal Code. Health Law No 23/1992 states a pregnancy may be terminated only if it endangers the mother's health.

Agus said the medical association would seek a psychiatrist's opinion of the victim's mental condition before determining whether the abortion should be performed.

"If the victim is experiencing mental distress as a result of the rape as stated by the psychiatrist, we will (have the grounds to) conduct an abortion because it's considered emergency circumstances," he said.

According to Article 1 of the health law, health also covers the mental and social state of a person.

Agus also rejected the belief abortions could only be performed up to the end of the four month of gestation.

"Technically speaking, medically, abortion can be performed even when the fetus is eight months old."

He said he and other doctors were not afraid of being prosecuted, and argued the abortion would be one way of restoring the country's tattered reputation.

"The rapes have ruined our country's image. Once, I was asked whether it's necessary for the victims to go abroad to have an abortion... We'd be further very embarrassed (if the victims did so)," he sighed.

Agus said that so far he had not received any report from the association members about an abortion for the rape victims.

Noted lawyer Nursjahbani Katjasungkana said earlier she would defend doctors who were prosecuted for performing abortions on rape victims.

"I have some arguments (to defend their actions)," Nursjahbani told the Post.

She argued the doctors' intention was to help the mothers and to improve her health. "The doctors' motive is not to kill the baby. So, they should not be prosecuted," Nursjahbani of the Indonesia Women's Association for Justice said.

"Besides, our laws have not yet determined when life begins. And that can be used as the basis of a legal argument if a doctor decides to go ahead and abort a pregnancy."