Should abortion be legalised in Malaysia?
posted in - Nation, - Palmdoc |
I thought we could start off the week with a controversial topic. At the moment abortion is allowed in Malaysia only on medical grounds if the health of the mother is in jeopardy.
That is not stopping people seeking abortion, as the NST reported yesterday:
Three of six private clinics and maternity homes called at random to find out if they could perform an abortion said they could. And they all offered the same instructions.
The three said they could do it, two refused flat out and one recommended the general practitioner down the road.
A medical centre in Kuala Lumpur said it would cost about RM450 and could be done in half a day. The nurse promised there would be “no pain and no scars”, and that it would remain a secret.
Another clinic said the price would range from RM500 to RM700. The caller was asked to bring cash and her identity card.
The third place offering the abortion was a maternity centre in Perak with a more cautious approach.
“We’ll only do it if you’re less than two months pregnant. But the doctor must talk to you before we decide anything.”
An assistant at a centre in Negri Sembilan said it only performed such services on medical grounds, but she believed a nearby clinic would do it for RM300 to RM400.
“Next time, be more careful,” she said.
A nurse at a maternity clinic in the Klang Valley recalled how the doctor performed at least two abortions a day.
“Some patients walk in wearing school uniform, accompanied by their boyfriends,” said the nurse, who declined to be named.
The former nurse said those who came in were usually in their first trimester but there were a few cases in which the women were more than six months pregnant.
While it appears that more clinics are now doing illegal abortions, no doctor has been found guilty for want of evidence.
A doctor can be struck off the Malaysian Medical Council register if found guilty of gross misconduct.
The MMC has received complaints against doctors over the years but could not proceed with the case when the complaints were withdrawn.
“We also have difficulty getting the complainants to come forward and prove their allegation,” said MMC secretary Dr Wan Mazlan Mohamed Woojdy.
There was a case where the patient died after an abortion and the relatives filed a complaint with the council, only to withdraw it later.
“There is no protection of a Whistleblowers Act, so many withdraw their complaints,” he said.
Dr Ravindran Jegasothy, the chairman of the Malaysian Medical Association Ethics Committee, said there were doctors doing illegal abortions as there was a demand for it.
While the MMA does not condone illegal abortions, he said, it fears that restrictive laws may drive women to seek unsafe procedures at the hands of untrained people.
The last point is moot - there would be women anyway who might seek abortion at the hands of untrained people and in doing so their lives are in danger.
There’s also the pressing problem of unwed mothers and infanticide in this country - something far worse than abortion IMO.
Abandoned and left to die. This is the fate of an increasing number of unwanted babies that end up in toilets and rubbish bins among other places. A few are found dead while others are saved in the nick of time.
Links:
Wikipedia on abortion
Wikipedia on Religion and abortion
So should abortion be legalised in Malaysia? I would be interested to find out your views.
Take the MMR Poll
Loading …and also leave your comments here….
Last 5 posts by Palmdoc
- Doctors’ compulsory service may be reduced? - February 8th, 2010
- Condolences - February 8th, 2010
- Unrecorded leave for organ donors - February 8th, 2010
- Cancer can be prevented - February 3rd, 2010
- Beware of HOs - February 2nd, 2010
February 6th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
I’m getting my abortion today. It’s extremely hard in this country to decide otherwise, and honestly if I had any choice in this I would keep it. No matter how old you are I reckon if you’re still unmarried, the whole society would disapprove of having a child. Although abortion is illegal, the personal individual consequence of keeping the child would be harder. This is what I do not understand. Why illegalize abortion if keeping it is seen as a whole new sin?
If I were to keep this child, my parents would have to kill me first. My dad would probably disown me. My family would never want to see me again. They would tell their friends I ran away or something like that. Honestly, for those who abide by the law and not get an abortion in this country, there would be no support available. Not from their families, at least. The most support would be (if i was very, very lucky) that I would have to marry my boyfriend. And neither of us are ready for that. Yes, we have planned marriage but we are too young and financially unstable to be taking care of each other, yet alone a child!
I am scared today even, not of the physical or emotional pain I would probably experience, but of the fact that my family might suspect something is wrong with me. I was even contemplating whether to do the medical or surgical abortion by the side effects obvious to people living with me.
In conclusion, abortion is an extremely hard decision to make, but Malaysia gives no support or sympathy to those who decide otherwise.
January 19th, 2010 at 1:50 am
i had an abortion when my pregnancy was 6 weeks old in a clinic.it cost me RM 550. but my concern in whether or not it will affect my pregnancies in the future?i did not know anything when it was going on. All i know is they injected me with something that had me unconcious and next moment, it have already been done. i was told to go for check up a week later n went for the check up and they gave me some kind of pills, so called to strengthen my uterus
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Whatever you do, don’t legalize abortion there! I am from the United States, and it is legal here and it has been an unbelievable nightmare! We have thousands of women dead, millions who have been seriously injured, a great increase in cerebral palsy and breast cancer, millions of women who agonize over the abortions they had, and general unrest and conflict in society. Legalizing abortion does NOT make it safe. And by the way, medical abortions are very dangerous. The second course of medication usually given can kill a woman in hours. The manufacturer says it is NOT to be given to a pregnant woman. In my opinion, giving it to a pregnant woman is malpractice. When there is no medical problem, abortion is being done to a perfectly healthy woman, and the consequences of abortion are not outweighed by some medical problem, so it is all a one-sided risk. As for the babies, there are plenty of people willing to adopt and raise these children. We adopted and raised two, and one of our daughters has adopted two. Even though it is highly desirable to discourage women from having babies out of wedlock, grandparents really owe it to their daughters to welcome the new grandchild and to support her. And I am speaking from experience here, too, because we have one grandchild who was born out of wedlock. He is just as precious as our other seven grandchildren. Sex education can also be a nightmare. Unmarried women need to look out for their own best interests. That means not subjecting themselves to this kind of risk. They deserve better. And by the way, real feminists oppose abortion. http://www.feministsforlife.org/ Also, you don’t want to encourage abortion for a rape victim, simply because it is a far deeper invasion of her body. In my personal experience, the women I have known who became pregnant from rape, the two who kept their babies are doing just fine, but the woman who had an abortion has been in and out of mental hospitals for years. People should stop using rape for their political agenda. Most women who have been raped don’t even want an abortion, but society puts unbelievable pressure on them through expecting them to have an abortion. And by the way, contrary to what some people here have said, the baby has a heartbeat, brain waves, eyes, and FINGERS by the time most women are sure they are pregnant! And by the eighth week, the baby is fully formed. People who want to cite biology ought not to tell tall tales (in other words, they need to be informed, and they shouldn’t lie). Our experience says the only way to protect women from unscrupulous butchers is to keep abortion ILLEGAL. If it’s legal, you will have a proliferation of butchers, and it will be LESS safe than when it’s illegal, because butchers who operate legally aren’t afraid of getting caught!
November 13th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
in my humble opinion, i think abortion should be legalize if the mother health are not in risk. such as 49 days of pregnancy when the fetus is not yet been form, i think is ok for abortion since it is not so dangerous yet to remove from it i think. and about those religious stuff or kindness or sympathy stuff. i think is bullcrap because when u saying abortion is equal to killing a baby/human/life, then i’m sure u do not study biology before. if your so-called is cruel to abortion statement is correct, then every move we made, every minute, every second u will be crying out loud and asking god y this world has become so cruel.. because every sec cells dies, bacteria dies. it will be so sad and in the future we might invade mars to place cementary and held funeral for cells there.. wow!!
i know we(baby makers) are responsible for making the baby. but accident do happens and we must seek for the best solution. and zane80 totally say it right about this.
please people, don’t be too religious. god love us and he surely don’t like us use him as an excuses for blaming people. concentrate on improvement rather than complain. keeps on complain and blaming wont help anything but produce extra problem to the world like terrorist did.
October 26th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
http://www.mims.com/Page.aspx?menuid=mng&name=mifepristone
October 26th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
btw, can v get ru486 in msia?
September 24th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Little me: I wish to correct your statement. According to the latest Mlaysian Maternal mortality report, there is NO Maternal death due to abortion (early abortion within 3 months). The morbidity associate with abortion also extremely low if done by trained personel contrary to common believe.
Abortion should be part of the women’s right after adequate counselling.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Thank you for sharing. I think proper contraception is the better alternative. Do speak to your doctor about it.
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Me again,
i went to clinic last-nite, and i took another preganacy test, this times with the Doctor helped.
and it’s Negative.
Doctor says it might be my stress to delay my period.
and this is not the point,
if i relly pregnant, then the Doctor will NOT provide any abortion act.
But i know next of his clinic there is a clinic which provided abortion.
They have put the banner outside the clinic.
So, that’s mean in Malaysia we stil can find a lot of clinic that provided abortion, just are there’s safe for us????
I am an educated women i know how to chose the way to protect me and i want to have baby after marriage,
but so many girls , i mean maybe the minor they do not know what to do when they noticed they’re pregnant.
Got Bomoh Also offer abortion act.
Do u think this is safe for women.???
NO , definitely NO.
Life is precious, but i think to stop the pregnancy occur before the fetus form it’s not to stop the life, since it’s still in just small cell.
so , abortion within 3 months is acceptable, and should be open offer to all women and girls who have this kind of problems.
For the benefits of all.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:26 am
And more…
There ’s far more risk for women to have alternative misccariage and it’s 100% illegal!!!
and dangerous to women.
In that times, not only the fetus dead, mother also dead.
It’s dangerous also to go thru the surgery in the un-known clinic…untrained so called pratician doctor.
and it is gurantee dangerous for who seek for the BOMOH for abortion.
This will definitely cause more problems in this sick society and increases the crime rate.
^^
So, RU 486 should be sales in the counter of any pahmacy.
Abortion have to be legalised to public.
and
sex education is indeed .