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The ongoing debate over whether to legalise abortion in Jamaica has escalated with the controversial recommendation from the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) that minors be allowed to access an abortion on their own without the consent of a parent.
The controversial position was put forward by CAPRI in its European Union-funded report titled: Coming to Terms: The Social Costs of Unequal Access to Safe Abortions, the findings of which were presented Thursday during a webinar. The requirement of parental consent or notification may delay young women’s abortion care leading to more risky and costlier late-term abortion procedures, or even cause the young women to resort to illegal or self-induced abortions in a fear of parental reactions, CAPRI stated in the report.