ABORTION (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read. 2.46 p.m.

The Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Chua Sian Chin) (for the Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, Sir, I have been asked by my colleague, the Minister for Health, to move the Second Reading of the Bill on his behalf since he has to be away today.

Sir, I beg to move "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, under the Abortion Act, 1974, abortions can only be carried out in institutions approved by the Ministry. On the other hand, medical practitioners do not require approval to perform abortions. From time to time, Government hospitals have been receiving moribund patients due to complications arising from abortions performed by private medical practitioners. There have also been cases where approval given to a clinic has been cancelled but there is nothing in the law to prevent the medical practitioner from performing abortions in another approved clinic.

At present only clinics where abortions are carried out are licensed. It is the intention of this Bill that there should also be proper authorisation of medical practitioners who wish to carry out abortions in the interests of patients.

Clause 4 will enable an abortion to be performed on the holder, or the wife of a holder, of an employment pass or work permit pass even though she has not been resident in Singapore for four months. Such persons should not be compelled to resort to illegal abortions or wait till they complete four months' residence, thus increasing the risk of complications because of advanced pregnancy.

The other clauses of the Bill make consequential and necessary amendments to the Abortion Act, 1974, and to relevant sections of the Penal Code.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Dr Augustine H.H. Tan (Whampoa): Mr Speaker, Sir, I was looking at some of the figures on abortion presented by the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board and was quite shocked by the magnitude of the figures. Between 1970 and 1979 the cumulative total of legalized abortions was 88,499. In 1970, the year that the Abortion Act was first brought into force, there were only 1,913 legalized abortions or 4.2% of live-births. In 1974, the year the second Abortion Bill was passed, there were 7,175 abortions or 16.6% of live-births. By 1979, Sir, there were 14,855 abortions or 36% of live-births. If cases of menstrual regulation are also included, the total number of abortions in 1979 was 16,999 or 41.7% of live-births. This means that in 1979 one unborn baby was aborted for every 2.4 born. This is a horrendous trend.

In 1969 when the Abortion Bill was first introduced, it was envisioned that legalized abortions would amount to no more than 10% of live-births, In 1974, the then Minister for Health and Home Affairs stated in Parliament that (Hansard, Vol. 33, col. 1102):

'Contrary to the fears expressed in the original debate, our pregnant women have not been turning to abortions in great numbers.' It appears, Sir, that his judgment was premature and that the 1974 Bill opened the floodgates to promiscuity and murder.

Sir, the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board reported in its Annual Report of 1979 that the mean gestation period of the unborn babies aborted was 10.9 weeks. It may interest hon. Members to note some medical facts:

(a) By the 21st day of pregnancy, the baby's heart demonstrates its first feeble beats, that is, before most women even know that they are pregnant.

(b) By the sixth week, the adrenal gland and the thyroid are functioning.

(c) By the 12th week a child's fingerprints are indelibly in place.

In other words, Sir, abortion kills a developing human being. In the first trimester, abortion is done by vacuum aspiration and curettage, that is, literally tearing and scraping the fetus from the wall of the womb. In the second trimester, abortion is effected by prostaglandin injection to make the womb expel the fetus, followed by curettage, or scraping. Studies done in Canada indicate that abortions can lead to sterility. In fact, the younger the mother, the more likely it is that she will suffer sterility later, if she has an abortion. The percentage is as high as 30% for women between 15 and 17 years of age. Moreover, Sir, I am told, and this has been confirmed by the Minister earlier, that abortion in the second trimester is twice as dangerous as during the first trimester.

Quite apart from the hazards of abortion, Sir, we should realize that it is an act involving the taking of life, in other words, murder of the unborn child. Sir, God has clearly stated in His Word, His role in the creation of every baby. Permit me just to quote three passages from the Bible:

(1) Jeremiah 1:5: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you:

(2) Psalm 139:13: For thou didst form my inward parts; thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb.

(3) Ecclesiastes 11:5: As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

Sir, every baby is created in the image of God and is precious to Him. He has a purpose for each one of us. Sir, when we violate the commandments of God, we are the ones to suffer, for we wittingly or unwittingly place ourselves in the hands of Satan. I have met some women who have been traumatised by their abortions and their personalities are warped as a result.

Sir, I have no quarrel with the Government over the principle of birth control, though I do have some reservations over the extent of population control. Now we have other means, such as contraceptive devices and, even if need be, sterilization. This amendment seeks to extend coverage of the Abortion Act to employment pass and work permit holders. At the rate we are going, Singapore will soon become the abortion centre of South-East Asia. Sir, I appeal to the conscience of the Hon. Minister for Health and hon. Members to stop the murder of unborn babies.

Mr Chua Sian Chin: Mr Speaker, Sir, in reply, may I say that as far as the Ministry of Health is concerned, and particularly the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board, they do not encourage abortion. This has been stated over and over again. Because there are other and better methods of birth control, they have therefore been doing their very best to propagate these various methods of birth control. But if, in spite of that, a woman still conceives, and if it is an unwanted baby, then she should be free to choose whether to have the baby or to abort it. That is the rationale of the Abortion Act. It is something that is voluntary, some- thing given to a woman who does not want the baby, to have an abortion as a last resort, of course, under certain conditions.

I do not think I would like to answer the Member for Whampoa about abortion being murder. That has been debated long ago when I first introduced the Abortion Bill. In my training as a lawyer, I have never been taught that, in law, abortion is murder. The Member for Whampoa may use other definitions from other authorities which I do not consider as authorities. As I have said, this is a matter of free choice. It is a matter of your own personal belief, and on what principles you define murder and on what principles you define right and wrong. I have all the time been saying that on religious beliefs or moral principles, you should be free to choose what moral principles or what religious principles you want to believe in, and that you should not impose your moral principles and beliefs on another person unless, of course, it is against the law of the land.

Dr Augustine Tan: Mr Speaker, Sir, I was looking for certain figures which I could not find in the Ministry of Health's Annual Report, neither could I find them in the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board Annual Report. Perhaps the Hon. Minister could give his reply here. First, how many unmarried women had abortions in 1979? Secondly, how many of the abortions carried out were repeated abortions? And, thirdly, why were these figures not published?

Mr Chua Sian Chin: Sir, if I am in the Ministry of Health, I would be quite willing to give him the figures. Unfortunately, I am standing in for the Minister for Health who has just been called away. If the Member for Whampoa seriously wants the figures, I am quite sure the Ministry of Health will be prepared to give him the figures of the number of unmarried mothers, and so on and so forth.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Chua Sian Chin].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.