Abortion law change ‘a major advance in island’s healthcare’
MODERNISING Guernsey’s abortion law has been a significant advance is the island’s healthcare offering, director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink has said.
In February last year Guernsey’s abortion law was updated.
Among the changes was making it no longer a criminal offence for a woman to attempt to induce abortion.
Under the old law, women who attempted to procure an abortion outside of the legal framework were, in theory, liable to prosecution, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for doing so.
Writing in her annual report, Dr Brink said that this change in the law was progress that islanders should be proud of.
She said it was significant that as Guernsey was modernising and decriminalising local laws, just as Roe v. Wade, a court ruling from 1973 that protected the right to have an abortion, was being overturned in the United States.
‘What we want to do is provide safe, compassionate, user-centred care for women who require the service,’ said Dr Brink.
‘Modernisation of abortion law is a very significant advance.
‘We changed it in a number of ways to try and remove barriers.’
She said last year’s change in the law brought it up-to-date and made it align better with the principles of modern healthcare.
That included making it law that women no longer needed to see a second practitioner.
Under the previous law, women wanting an abortion were required to initially see two separate doctors, usually GPs, with one consultation fee per GP, before being referred into specialist care with the MSG obstetrics and gynaecology team.
‘If you have a heart transplant you only require one signature, so brings it on a par with other medical procedures,’ said Dr Brink.
‘We’ve also decriminalised abortion, so it’s no longer a criminal offence for a woman to try and procure an abortion outside of a legal framework.
‘We think the chances of people doing that is very low.
‘However, in the unlikely event that happened, that woman wouldn’t be criminalised.'
The old law also meant abortions had to take place in hospital.
But with most abortions now being medical cases, rather than surgical, the hospital requirement was removed.
‘In practical terms, this means that women who are at a low risk of complications will be able to receive the medication needed to procure a termination in hospital, then, if they so choose, move to the privacy of home for the process to complete.’
Gestation thresholds now also align with the UK, giving women more time to make a decision.
