Abortion advocates call for law reform in Belize 

The Belize Family Life Association (BFLA) is calling for changes to Belize’s abortion laws, arguing that criminal penalties can push women and girls toward unsafe care. Executive Director Joan Burke says the aim is to have abortion addressed as a public health issue and to improve access to safe care.  In a letter marking International Safe Abortion Day, Burke argued that criminalising abortion does not stop it from happening. She explained what advocates are seeking to achieve and why they believe reform is needed.

Joan Burke–Skeen, Executive Director, BFLA: “It’s not about just promoting abortion. It is about promoting the safety and in so doing then the removal of the criminalization of abortion. What we want is to ensure that we have the proper data , we have a healthcare delivery system that accommodates the services for women within the context of their rights and then also to make sure that we move these restrictive laws. In addition to this we want to also pay attention that some of the barriers that can end up with women having to have an abortion is the fact that if we put in laws that restrict the access to contraceptives. So all this plays an important role when we talk about the access to safe and legal abortion. Abortion is not totally illegal in Belize. There are certain conditions under which a woman can access these services. Belize has the third highest adolescent pregnancy rate in the entire region. Evidence has shown over the years that in countries where abortion is legal and safe there is a significant reduction in abortion in this countries. We see in Barbados and in Guyana, abortion rates in those two countries are extremely low. Much lower than the rest of the Caribbean.”

Burke pointed to Barbados and Guyana, where abortion laws have been changed, as examples she believes Belize should examine. She says advocates have also been holding discussions with government officials about changing the law here.

Joan Burke–Skeen, Executive Director, BFLA: “Our partnership with Aspire is to create this level of awareness but also to do some advocacy for the necessary changes as we talk about women’s rights and women’s reproductive health and rights. A proposal has been submitted by the Aspire in collaboration with the UWI to the Ministry of Health in Belize. We are still awaiting the approval, the acceptance by the Ministry of Health. There have been some attempts and we’re hoping that we will get the support one, of the Attorney General’s Office as well as from the Ministry of Health to continue this work. The matter of contraceptives as well as how do we move forward in the area of abortion because we know that there are certain areas such as rape which includes incest those are not grounds on which a person can access an abortion.”

Those discussions, according to Burke, are ongoing. International Safe Abortion Day is observed every year on September 28.