would suffer from a physical or mental abnormality so as to be seriously handicapped.5 An
abortion may also be legally carried out when the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or
incest, whether or not any person has been charged with the offence of rape or incest.
The government of St Vincent and the Grenadines broadened the scope for permitting abortions
because it provided a strategy for controlling the rates of population growth and fertility since it
was believed that the high population growth rate would have severely strained the limited
natural resources of the country. While Trinidad and Tobago does not face a substantial problem
of high population growth rates, this strategy of legally extending abortion to rape and incest can,
nevertheless, be applied. For example, the recent case which emerged in 2012 of an 11-year-old
girl raped by her father and pregnant with his child provided a clear case for abortion for
supporters.6
However, the legislation of Barbados goes further to allow abortion not only in instances of rape
and incest, but also for foetal impairment, socioeconomic reasons and the requirement of
parental authorization for pregnant girls under the age of 16 years. This is because the
government had been concerned with the high maternal morbidity and mortality resulting from
unsafe illegal abortions, a problem which Trinidad and Tobago also faces.
In Barbados, abortion laws were significantly liberalized in 1983, with the introduction of the
Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (Act No. 4 of 11 February 1983). Previously, legislation
on abortion was based on sections 61 and 62 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1868, which
permitted abortion only to save the life of the pregnant woman, as well as the application of the
Rex v. Bourne case, which interpreted the 1868 Act to permit abortion in order to protect the
physical and mental health of the pregnant woman. However, the introduction of the 1983 Act
allows abortion on broad health grounds. It provides that an abortion can be performed if a
medical practitioner is of the opinion formed in good faith that (i) the continuance of the
pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman or grave injury to her physical or
mental health; or (ii) a substantial risk exists that if the child were born, it would suffer such
5
United Nations Population Division Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Abortion Policies: A Global Review
(2002).
6
Kissoon, Carolyn. "Pregnant little girl 'a case for abortion'". The Trinidad Express, 20 July 2012.
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