The Abortion Debate - Oil for Joy to host two-week seminars on abortion
published:
Wednesday | April 2, 2008
The Government is examining possible amendments to the laws relating to abortion in Jamaica.
Should abortion be legal? Join the debate. Email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223
The Rev Rhonda Arias, founder and director of Oil for Joy for Mourning, based in the United States, will arrive in Jamaica tomorrow to conduct a series of training sessions for counsellors and pastors who are interested in understanding the effects of abortion on women who have gone through the procedure.
The training sessions will be held Friday, from 3 p.m.-9 p.m. at the Family Life Ministries, 10 Cecelio Avenue, St Andrew; on Saturday, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the St Andrew High School For Girls Auditorium, 6 Cecelio Avenue, St Andrew, and Sunday, 3 p.m.-9 p.m. at the Family Life Ministries.
Free public session
The cost will be $1,500 per person, inclusive of all materials. For further information call 302-7080.
In addition, Arias will conduct a free public session next Monday at 7 p.m. at St Andrew High School For Girls Auditorium, St Andrew, on abortion recovery and the effects of abortion on women. At that session, women, who have had abortions will speak about their experiences.
Arias' visit to Jamaica has been organised by the Coalition for the Defense of Women and the Unborn, headed by Dr Doreen Brady-West.
The real test
The Editor, Sir:
Someone mentioned that we live in a democracy. Yes, we do live in a democracy, and yes, we do have rights (women have rights). However, within a democracy, your rights are valid where, in exercising them, you do not cause harm to another person (including a baby - a foetus). Therefore, a murderer cannot say that it is his right to kill someone because he lives in a democracy.
On this issue of legalising or not legalising abortion, let us not look at it in bits and pieces. Let us look at the bigger picture here: life; a life with so much potential a potential that cannot be reached if it is cut short. Today it may be a child that is not wanted, but in a couple of years, that same child could be the prime minister, a very important leader, or just a contributor to the society - in any way at all.
I am, etc.,
mmlarisa@yahoo.com
Intellectual gymnastics
The Editor, Sir:
Everyone knows intuitively that it is wrong to kill an innocent human being. Indeed, some say it is wrong to take innocent life of any kind.
Since no one can deny the innocence of the unborn child, those who promote abortion engage in intellectual gymnastics in order to convince themselves that the foetus is not a human being, against a mountain of scientific evidence to the contrary.
