Indonesia strongly against legalization of abortion

Indonesia strongly against legalization of abortion

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia strongly objects to the full
legalization of abortion and will deal with the issue on a case
by case basis, according to State Minister of Population/Chairman
of the National Family Planning Board Haryono Suyono.

Haryono, who led the Indonesian delegation at the United
Nations International Conference on Population and Development in
Cairo, announced yesterday that abortion, which is permitted only
for health reasons and is strictly regulated by the law.

Asked about abortions for pregnant teenagers or rape victims,
Haryono responded: "We deal with it case by case."

The 1992 Health Law permits abortion only as an effort to save
a mother's life and that of her fetus. Violators face penalties
of up to 15 years imprisonment and a fine up to Rp 500 million
($231,000), compared to the maximum penalty of 12 years in jail
as stipulated in the current Criminal Code.

The government, however, has not issued necessary regulations
to enforce the 1992 Health Law although illegal abortions are
believed to still be rampant.

The issue of abortion was a major point of contention at the
Cairo conference which ended on Tuesday. Another heated issue was
sexual rights.

The conference in its final declaration said that abortion
should in no case be promoted as a method of family planning, as
mentioned in the original draft. The participants also
demonstrated a commitment to deal with the impact of unsafe
abortions as a major public health concern and to reduce the
recourse of abortion through expanded and improved family
planning services.

Counseling

The declaration said that "prevention of unwanted pregnancies
must always be given the highest priority and all attempts should
be made to eliminate the need for abortion. Women who have
unwanted pregnancies should have ready access to reliable
information and compassionate counseling."

Given that abortion is legal in some countries, the conference
agreed to allow each individual state to deal with the issue.

"In circumstances in which abortion is not against the law,
such abortions should be safe," the document says.

Haryono said that if treating complications of unsafe
abortions in Indonesia, these treatments are undertaken "purely
out of humanitarian and health considerations."

The international conference on population is held by the
United Nations every 10 years. The first was held in Bucharest
and the second in Mexico City.

Haryono said that at the Mexico conference, the United States
under President Ronald Reagan, strongly opposed abortion and
coercion in family planning. As a result, the United Nations cut
financial assistance to China, which practiced abortion and
coercion to curb the country's birthrate.

Indonesia, which used the target system in its family planning
program, was suspected of practicing coercion. The conference,
however, dropped the suspicion later and agreed to provide more
funds for Indonesia, according to Haryono.

The minister said that the Cairo conference, which showed
great concern for women's issues, agreed to prohibit genital
mutilation, which aims at controlling women's sexuality.

He said in Indonesia people still practice the mutilation
symbolically by cutting a kind of root used for cooking and
rubbing the genital with it.

In some parts of the country, however, some people pierce the
genital to let out some blood, while others remove the fernulum,
a part of the genital. (sim)