Illegal abortion practices 'caused by high demand'

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)