1. Sunday, 15 May 2016
Abortion
AWAITS CHANGE IN STATUS :
SOCIETY NEEDS TO REACH OUT TO SAVE PAIN AND
HARDSHIP :
By Isuri Yasasmin Kaviratne
Recently, medical practitioners made a sincere plea to the authorities to decriminalise
abortion in Sri Lanka, quoting statistics, that there are around 650 abortions daily in
the country and around 20 women die due to complications, as these abortions are
done in clinics with poor hygiene and minimal safety conditions.
In this context, the Sunday Observer looked in depth into the worrisome state the
doctors spoke of, and beyond.
The Decree
Sections 303 to 309 of the Penal Code of Sri Lanka states, an abortion is a criminal
offence unless it is performed to save the life of a mother. This law, as was the Penal
Code, was drafted and approved in 1883. In 1973, a Committee of the Medical Legal
Society of Sri Lanka recommended the restrictions to be removed in cases of grave
injury to the physical and mental health of the mother, pregnancies resulting from rape
or incest, and in cases where the child, if born, would suffer from severe mental or
physical abnormalities. These recommendations, however, did not result in legislative
actions.
Dr. Shantha Hettiarachchi

2. In 1995, these recommendations were incorporated in a
Cabinet Paper, though it didn’t proceed any further. The
National Action Plan for Women has made provisions making
similar recommendations since 1996, which too have failed
to see the light of day. An amendment to Section 306 of the
Penal Code was drafted to remove the restriction in cases of
rape, incest and congenital abnormalities by the Gender
Sub-Committee of the Law Commission in 2012. However,
even the draft is no longer available in the official website.
The Care
Dr. Shantha Hettiarachchi, Chief Medical Officer, Sri
Jayewardenapura University said women get treatment for
post abortion complications at government hospitals without any questioning,
regardless of the legality of the context.
“We don’t inform the police or refer them for further questioning because it would
discourage other patients with similar problems from coming to the hospital. Our prime
ain is to save people’s lives.”
Providing legal background on this subject to a report published by the Family Planning
Association, titled ‘Unwanted/ Unplanned Pregnancies and their aftermath’, the former
Attorney General Palitha Fernando said, according to Sections 21 and 22 of the Penal
Code and their application to Sections 303 to 309 which penalise abortions, medical
officers are under no obligation to report to authorities when a person visits the hospital
after an illegal abortion, for post abortion care.
On the other hand, Hettiarachchi said the current abortion laws need to be changed, at
the very least, to include congenital abnormalities as well as women who are pregnant
due to rape and incest, even though decriminalising of abortion would be beneficial for
young girls who get pregnant out of wedlock, and are forced to give up their education
and other future prospects.
He admitted that the inadequacy of the Sri Lankan education system on sex and
reproductive health education is a reason for many unwanted pregnancies. “The only
instance I was able to educate them on sex and reproductive health was at a session
during the ‘leadership programme’ for university students.”
Commenting on the statistics on abortion, he said, the numbers may not be 100%
accurate. The only way of proving that a woman died due to abortion is by examining
the post mortem reports and many of the cases don’t get reported. As a former officer
at the Ministry of Health, Hettiarachchi added that statistics compiled a decade ago
stated that the number of abortions a day is around 700-1000, and “this number
couldn’t have decreased.”
Thushara Agus

3. The Choice
Thushara Agus, Executive Director, Family Planning Association Sri Lanka (FPA) said,
the law that penalises abortion should be made lenient at least for rape and incest
victims and for mothers carrying foetuses with congenital abnormalities.
“Do it in a professional
way, for deserving
cases.”
She explained that Sri
Lanka being a country
where culture matters a
lot even with the
decriminalising of
abortion, women are
not likely to line up to
abort their foetuses.
But by providing a
choice to women, at
least the “deserving”
cases will have an
opportunity to forego
months of psychological
agony and trauma and
their prolonged effects.
Even though the FPA
does not conduct
abortions in their
clinics, Agus said, there
are many clients who
seek advice, most of
them married couples,
needing an abortion
due to economic
constraints of having to
raise another child, or
due to their immediate
personal plans. She
maintained that there
hasn’t been any case of
women being forced to
abort the foetus by the
boyfriend/husband or
their families, based on
the clients attending FPA clinics.

4. “What we should understand is that most of the young people are sexually active, even
though as a country we don’t have a proper syllabus on sex and reproductive health, in
our school curriculum.” She explained that discussions with the Ministries of Health and
Education are underway to expand the school syllabus on the subject.
The Restriction
The religious leaders have consistently and continuously opposed legalising abortion on
spiritual grounds, basing their arguments on the importance of life and destroying a
life, even before its birth, considering it a crime against nature and or higher powers.
However, when the Sunday Observer attempted to contact them they were not
available for comment.
The Trauma
Psychologist S. Suhaila said, it has been observed that women who have undergone
abortion, especially, in situations such as rape and incest, undergo psychological
conditions such as trauma, and are in need of a support system from society.
“These girls, most of them underage, have been abused, raped, conceived and are in
trauma already,” she explained, and in cases of underage girls, the trauma was severe.
People’s perceptions do matter, e.g. when these girls or women are in a vulnerable
state of mind, treating them as criminals does not help them or the society. She added
that the victimised girls feel they are being treated like “garbage”.
Commenting on decriminalising abortion, she said, there will always be someone who
misuses the system. But, that would not be a reasonable reason to force a woman to
carry a fetus of congenital abnormality or to carry a child of rape or incest.
There is already a psychological factor that prevents these women from seeking
professional healthcare following an abortion; the fear of revealing the fact that they
have undergone an abortion, the social disapproval and so forth. There are only few
women who visit hospitals due to post abortion complications, even though it is legal.