Illegal abortion practices 'caused by high demand'
JAKARTA (JP): Illegal abortion practices in big cities are common because the demand for them is quite high while the application of legal sanction against such practices is very low, a criminologist, lawyer and doctor said yesterday.
They said that some people in society were hypocritical because they scorned those who opted to have an abortion, but socially accepted the practice.
The three made the comments in response to the dumping of eleven babies' bodies in three plastic bags at a garbage site and a nearby ditch on Jl. Warakas in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta Friday.
A preliminary conclusion said the babies were dumped by abortion clinics.
Criminologist Harkristuti Herkrisnowo said many clinics, doctors, medics and dukun (midwives) offered abortion and turned it into a profitable business.
Many women turn to abortion clinics every day for different reasons, ranging from financial problems to health, she said.
Legal clinics also dare to offer abortion because the risk of being caught is quite small, she said.
"No one wants to report these illegal practices. The patients don't want to disclose their shameful experience. The nurses, doctors and other people involved in abortion don't want to lose their income," Harkristuti said.
She said some doctors accepted abortion and even saw it as low-risk and a simple operation.
"Many accepted abortion practices are performed on women who are not yet in their third month of pregnancy because medically the operation will pose less of a risk to the women," she said.
Harkristuti said the dumping of the 11 babies in North Jakarta was apparently done by people who were hired by or worked at medical clinics which offered abortion.
Lawyer Nursjahbani Katjasungkana said society was hypocritical and not fair to women who chose to have an abortion.
"The women are labeled as cruel. People want the women to carry on with their pregnancies and give the babies their right to live, but they will just label children born without fathers as illegitimate," she said.
"There is no need to be shocked about it (the dumping of aborted babies). Abortion is common here. Even legal or government-supported clinics provide abortion services," she said.
Abortion is strictly prohibited under the Criminal Code, she said.
Article 346 stipulates that a woman who has an abortion will face a maximum penalty of four years in jail.
A doctor or medic who conducts an abortion without the patient's approval will face a maximum 12 years imprisonment. If the patient dies because of the operation, the doctor faces a maximum 15 years in jail under Article 347.
If the abortion is conducted with the patient's approval, the doctor or medic will face a maximum penalty of five years and six months in jail or seven years if the patient dies.
But the 1992 Health Law No. 23 indirectly allows abortion for women for medical and health reasons if conducted by qualified doctors.
Kartono Muhammad, former head of the Indonesian Doctors Association, said that a survey in the 1980s showed that almost 95 percent of women who decided to have an abortion were housewives.
"I think the survey's results are still valid. So I don't agree with the public who only point their fingers at teenagers or prostitutes as people capable of doing that," he said.
He described abortion as an action that was socially accepted. Dukun and traditional herbal medicine, locally known as jamu, have long been known to the public.
"Have you ever heard about midwives or housewives who are expelled from their neighborhood? I don't think there are any.
"So the public must have accepted such practices in their daily lives without any objection," he said.
He said the controversy surrounding abortion arises from religion.
"They object to abortion without giving a clear definition and description of abortion," he said.
Religious leaders consider abortion murder. But he said that abortion, in medical terms, could mean medical treatment given by doctors for mothers whose lives were endangered by their pregnancy.
"If doctors are involved in abortion, please check first whether they have a good medical reason and if it's in their patients' interest or whether it is just a matter of business," he said.
Women who choose to have an abortion, Kartono said, face the risks if the practice is not conducted professionally. But an abortion conducted professionally bears almost no risks at all, he said.
"The mother risks bleeding, uterus damage, infection and death, but with the current technology and wider public knowledge, I think people are better able to choose a good and safe method and decide on the right time to abort the pregnancy," he said. (04/cst)