THE HAGUE--Members of Dutch Parliament (MPs) Johan Remkes of the liberal democratic VVD party and Ineke van Gent of the green left party GroenLinks have posed questions on abortion practices in Curaçao.
The two sent a number of written questions to Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten following an article that appeared in the Curaçao daily Antilliaans Dagblad on Friday.
In the article, based on a study by Wendele van der Wiele of the Centre for Latin America Research and Documentation CEDLA of University of Amsterdam, it was said that many women in Curaçao resorted to illegal abortion pills and herb concoctions to terminate pregnancies. These pills and herb mixtures are openly for sale at the market in Punda, Willemstad, and authorities have not been taking action to stop the practice.
No research has been done into possible negative side effects of these pills and herb mixtures. There is no medical control on the use of these remedies, and women are not receiving after-care. "Taking these remedies can result in major life-threatening blood loss," said Van der Wiele.
Abortion is illegal in the Netherlands and is punishable by law. Doctors do perform abortions under certain circumstances, but many women can't afford the NAf. 300 procedure. As a result, many women in Curaçao resort to illegal remedies. General Practitioner on the island Dr. Adriana Boersema has been advocating legalising abortion so that pregnancies can be terminated responsibly, under the care of a medical professional.
Remkes and Van Gent asked Bijleveld-Schouten if she could give an indication of the number of women who resort to illegal remedies to terminate unwanted pregnancies. "What methods are used and what are the health risks? And who is supervising the medical use of these alternatives to abortion? Is it true that general practitioners offer paid abortion services, but that because of the high cost, women resort to dangerous alternatives?" asked the MPs.
Van Gent and Remkes wanted to know if the State Secretary was willing to discuss the issue of abortion and the high risk of alternative termination of pregnancy with the governments of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. They also asked about an information campaign about sexuality and warning against the health risks of unsafe sex.
