Shura approves abortion exception in two cases

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Fatal foetal defects and danger to the mother are the only two grounds on which legal abortion would be allowed under a proposal passed by the Shura Council yesterday.

The measure keeps abortion a criminal offence as a rule, but rewrites Article 19 of Decree-Law No. 7 of 1989 to allow an exception in two cases only, with written consent, specialist reports and treatment confined to licensed hospitals.

Supporters said in the chamber that the change was meant to bring the law into line with modern medical diagnosis while keeping the exception within a very small field.

Information

Dr Jameela Al Salman, Head of the Services Committee, said medical progress now gave pregnant women clearer information in cases where a foetus had a grave abnormality.

Speaking by video link, she said the committee had looked at laws across the Gulf and had chosen wording she said was narrower than that used elsewhere.

“They refer to severe malformation,” she said. “Our proposal says severe malformation and that life would not be possible after birth.”

She told members: “This is a restriction to very specific cases, not an expansion of abortion.”

Life

Under the text passed by the council, abortion would be allowed where there is no other way to save the pregnant woman’s life, provided this is confirmed by a medical committee made up of three consultant doctors licensed to practise in Bahrain.

The procedure, or any drug given for that purpose, would have to take place in a government hospital or an authorised private hospital and be carried out by a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Written consent from the woman would also be required, save in emergency cases calling for immediate surgery.