Midwife denies illegal abortions

JAKARTA (JP): A midwife, the owner of the banned abortion clinic who is currently indicted at the Central Jakarta District Court on charges of conducting illegal abortion practices, defended yesterday that what she had done was legal.

Dwi Ria Latifa, the midwife's lawyer, told the court yesterday the defendant identified as Herlin Herlina Taewa had done anything in line with instructions from the Indonesian Doctors Association to help succeed the National Family Planning program.

"Herlina's clinic was founded in 1984 based on the initiative of the association. The defendant had also been trained for the family planning program," Latifa said.

She said all the activities on the clinic on Tanah Tinggi had been periodically reported to the nearby Community Health Center in line with existing procedures.

All women intending to abort their babies and their relatives were required to sign a kind of approval forms before the abortion was conducted, she said. "So what the defendant did was in line with the Law on Health."

Latifa said the court actually had no authority to proceed with the case before the association's medical code of ethics council decided whether the defendant was guilty.

Nine other defendants on the abortion case separately delivered their defense statements against the charges at the same court yesterday.

Herlina, 45 and the other defendants were charged under Article 15 of the Law No. 23/1992 on Health which carries a maximum punishment of six years in jail.

The defendants were believed to have been involved in illegal abortion practices between 1989 and last November.

Lawyer Djamaluddin, who represents two of the defendants -- Ahmad Tabrani and Halimi -- also said the court had no right to proceed with the trial since the defendants did not only involve civilians, but also a military doctor.

Djamaludin said the case should be investigated first by a team consisting police officers, prosecutors and military prosecutors according to Article 89 and 90 of the Criminal Code Procedure.

"We could not charge civilians at the district court and the military doctor at the military court before the team decided it," he said.

Tabrani and Halimi are anesthetists at the Army General Hospital Gatot Subroto, while the military doctor, Lt. Col. Jaya Lelana, is on trial at the military court.

Presiding judge Suherman adjourned the trial until next week to hear the prosecutor's statements. (jun)