Shura draft introduces broader criteria for abortion and clearer rules for doctors performing operation

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A group of Shura Council members has proposed changes to Bahrain’s main medical law on abortion, widening the grounds on which a pregnancy can be ended under strict medical rules and adding a new clause on severe foetal malformation.

The draft, put forward by Lina Habib, Second Deputy Chairperson Dr Jehad Al Fadhel, Dalal Al Zayed, Dr Jameela Al Salman and Dr Ahmed Al Arrayed, would amend Decree-Law No. (7) of 1989 on the practice of human medicine and dentistry.

It replaces the current article on abortion and spells out when a doctor may prescribe medicine or carry out surgery with the clear aim of ending a pregnancy.

Under the proposed text, a doctor may not prescribe any drug to terminate a pregnancy, or perform an abortion, except in two cases.

The first is when continuing the pregnancy puts the pregnant woman’s life at risk.

Medical report

In that case, a medical report must be issued by a committee of three consultant doctors licensed to practise in the Kingdom of Bahrain confirming that there is no other way to save her life.

The procedure, or the prescription of medicine intended to bring about an abortion, must take place in a government hospital or a licensed private hospital, and the doctor in charge must be a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology.

The draft also insists on written consent. The pregnant woman’s written agreement is required before an abortion is carried out.

If she cannot give consent, the written approval of her husband or guardian is needed instead, apart from emergencies where immediate surgery is required.

Concern

The second case concerns severe foetal malformation.

Abortion would be permitted where the foetus is proven to have a serious abnormality that would affect its life or health after birth.

This must be backed by a medical report from a committee of three consultants in obstetrics and gynaecology and paediatrics.

As with life-threatening pregnancies, the procedure would have to be carried out in a government hospital or a licensed private hospital, by a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Findings

In malformation cases, the abortion must be requested in writing by both spouses after they have been informed of the committee’s findings.

The pregnancy must not have passed 120 days at the time of the procedure.

The draft gives the Chairperson of the Supreme Council of Health the task of issuing a decision that lays down the conditions for members of the medical committees, the steps they must follow, the medical standards to be used, and the rules for urgent cases.

Legislation

According to the explanatory memorandum, the proposal rests on constitutional provisions that name Islam as the religion of the state and Islamic Sharia as a main source of legislation, define the family as the base of society, and guarantee citizens’ right to health care through hospitals and health institutions provided by the state.

The note says rapid advances in medical science, including early diagnosis of diseases and foetal abnormalities, have exposed gaps in the 1989 law, which currently allows abortion only when continuing a pregnancy endangers the woman’s life.