FOR personal reasons, I’ve made the decision to discontinue my letter-writing hobby. As such, this will be my last letter to your publication.
This announcement will not only make my critics happy, but members of my own family who have long feared for my safety. I leave these pages on a sad, disturbing note: In an article, “Public hospitals should provide abortion services – APNU” (Kaieteur News, April 12), parliamentary representative for APNU, Dr. George Norton, calls on the government of Guyana to allow taxpayers money to fund illegal abortions at public hospitals around the country.
This is outrageous and a crime against morality. I hope our religious leaders find the courage to condemn and denounce this savage and ungodly act against humanity.
According to Dr. Norton, “If a woman who needs an abortion cannot afford or cannot access proper medical care in the public domain and is forced to go to unlicensed, incompetent bottom house clinics, this problem would remain.”
How about this, Dr. Norton, women who know that they cannot afford to bring a baby into this world, should abstain from having sex, use protection, and make sure that the men use protection as well. Where is the cry for responsibility and accountability among our leaders?
Abortion, or as Dr. Norton puts it, “termination of pregnancies”, is the deliberate killing of a foetus… an unborn or unhatched vertebrate in the later stages of development, showing the main recognisable features of a child. It is a sin against God and humanity to kill, and the butchers who perform this gruesome act are no different in the eyes of God than the criminals who commit the heinous crime of murder.

I would have supported a call by Dr. Norton to increase government funding for social services, including the construction of more orphanages; improved conditions of those existing ones; HIV testing; government sponsorship of an annual seminar by religious institutions on the topic of Unwanted Pregnancy; and the inclusion of a compulsory course in Planned Parenthood in the curriculum of all colleges and the university.
A lot is already being done to educate our youth, but obviously more needs to be done. Our womenfolk need to take responsibility as well. Surely APNU cannot hold government responsibe for the reckless and selfish actions of a few women who can’t seem to keep their legs closed. There are millions of families around the world who would do anything or pay any amount to have a child of their own, yet Dr. George Norton treats the precious gift of life as a disease to be eradicated. A doctor takes an oath to preserve life, not to destroy it.
For Dr. George Norton to make such an outrageous appeal to the government as an APNU representative in parliament, and also as a member of the medical profession, clearly demonstrates how irresponsible and bankrupt of ideas that party is.

The decision to abort a pregnancy should only be approved by doctors in cases of rape or incest. Women who are destitute and find themselves pregnant should be able to go to any public hospital for free pre-natal care.
After the birth of the child, the mother should be encouraged to give up this baby for adoption if her financial situation remains the same. In those rare cases where a woman gives birth to an unwanted baby in places other than a hospital, that woman should be free to walk into any medical facility, place of worship, or any police station anonymously and hand over that baby for adoption, without giving her name or address, or without fear of being prosecuted.
The child will then be transported to a public hospital for a full medical, and kept there until arrangements are made with an orphanage to provide adequate care for that child. This, I believe, is a humane alternative for those who find their situation so hopeless and unbearable, that they risk having botched abortions by unqualified persons or uncertified physicians in unlicensed facilities. And it is much more humane than reading the caption in a news article, “Newborn found abandoned in toilet.”
Of course, it would help if Dr. George Norton complements the government’s ongoing efforts, by conducting an APNU-sponsored nationwide seminar, to educate under-privileged women on the dangers of having unprotected sex. But don’t hold your breath, this will never happen.
Perhaps the only person still affiliated with APNU, who is independent enough and immensely qualified to undertake this educational project, and who cares enough to do so in a bipartisan way, is Dr. Faith Harding. The Administration would be wise to solicit her services in this regard.

In closing, I wish to thank all my readers, those who supported my views, and also those who opposed. I’m aware that my letters were controversial at times, but I’ve always tried to be fair and objective.
I also wish to thank the editors of Kaieteur News and the Guyana Chronicle for allowing me space to express my opinion.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We endure your parting with deep sadness as we acknowledge the fearless and valuable contributions with which you so modestly graced our letter pages over the years. We are certain that readers and other contributors will miss your choice of topics and the able and professional manner in which you delivered them to the reading public, which to our mind represented a genuine and selfless source of education to our readers, one of the hallmarks of the Guyana Chronicle. Beyond any doubt, your parting would leave a void on our letter pages. However, we wish to advise that if there is a change of heart, and you wish to continue writing now or even at a later stage, our letter pages are always open to your pen. We are indeed grateful for the invaluable contributions you have made.