Illegal abortion must be stopped

SURABAYA, East Java: Muslim organizations Muhammadiyah and Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) urged local police to take stern action against five suspects in an abortion case in the city.

"The police must bring the five suspects to court in an attempt to eliminate the practice of illegal abortion which is rife in the city," Fasich Apt, chairman of the local chapter of Muhammadiyah, said here on Saturday.

The five suspects were arrested in a recent crackdown on a clinic believed to have provided medical facilities for abortions.

He asserted that all religious institutions had an obligation to uphold morality and detect all violations of religious and moral teachings in society.

Ali Maschan Musa, chairman of the local chapter of NU, concurred saying that law enforcers should discourage illegal abortion.

"The police must take strict actions not only against the doctors but also against health workers in the clinics and the women who have abortions," he said.

According to data at the provincial police's detective unit, the five suspects were Wiwik Suliyani, a teacher, her daughter-in-law Lusiana, gynecologist Achdyat Premedi, Retnowati, a paramedic and Suhari, a broker. --Antara