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High Court to Proceed with Trial on Antigua and Barbuda’s Abortion Laws
The High Court has ruled that a legal challenge to Antigua and Barbuda’s abortion laws will proceed to trial, following the dismissal of a motion to strike out the case.
The Attorney General’s Chambers has been ordered to pay $1,500 to the abortion rights activists involved in the challenge.
This was in relation to a constitutional challenge, initiated by a group of campaigners a few months ago, aims to overturn Antigua’s long-standing anti-abortion legislation, primarily the Offences Against the Person Act, which dates back to 1861 and imposes severe penalties for abortion.
Currently, women who terminate pregnancies can face up to 10 years in prison, while those assisting in the procedure could receive a two-year sentence. The law permits abortion only when the mother’s life is at risk.
The AG’s offence applied to have that challenge thrown out.Yesterday’s hearing, presided over by Justice Jan Drysdale, featured attorneys David Dorsette and Carla Brooks Harris representing the Attorney General’s office, while Sherrie-Ann Bradshaw appeared for the challengers.
The AG’s office had argued that the law being contested had already been repealed and that the activists should have challenged the Infant Preservation Act rather than the Offences Against the Person Act.
Dorsette claimed that sections 56 and 57 of the Offences Against the Person Act were repealed in 1995, asserting that there was nothing to contest.
In response, Bradshaw argued that the intention of Parliament during the passage of the Sexual Offences Act in 1995 must be considered, questioning whether lawmakers were unaware of their actions.
Justice Drysdale dismissed the application to strike out the case. She concluded that the significance of the case warrants further evidence and legal analysis, allowing it to proceed to trial.
Power and relevance at what cost????Sherriann Bradshaw and her fellow political have-beens yet still hopefuls new new need to carefully consider their new rallying point before proceeding. Yes, the question of whether to abort or not to abort, or simply put, to kill or not to kill our babies has become a key part of national discourses the world over. One does not need an already lawless electorate to dictate whether or not a country has the right or moreso the authority to sanction infantile. Whether or not one is blessed to have been exposed to spiritual consciousness, our basic humaneness, directs and teaches us that abortion could/should NEVER ever be an option. Sherriann and company very limited need to go stand on front of a mirror and have private mental conversation with themselves.
No one has the right to force childbirth on another person, possible trauma on an underage child, a victim of incest, a victim of rape and/or a potential for the child to be unwanted … not forgetting poverty and neglect.
It may be easy to blindly follow the USA ans England when voting at the UN ,be it because of pressure or bridge. To violate fundamental concrete principles seems cowardice and foolish in my opinion. May Jah forgive, onelove .
Only one person gets judged at a time before God.
Then … let God be the judge and not people in government’s or churches … mainly men by the way … dictating to others their personal beliefs