Dear Editor:
On December 1, World AIDS Day, we finally had our day in court. We presented our case challenging the constitutionality of the abortion law.
There was no drama. Just orderly submissions from both sets of attorneys. And now we wait.
We are deeply grateful for the services of our pro bono attorneys, Rishi Daas and Sasha Sukhram and for Anika Gray and Sherry-Ann Bradshaw who teamed with them. Without their commitment to fairness and justice we would never have reached this point.
From the day we first wrote to the Attorney General, April 29, 2022, to the trial date last week, amounts to 43 months. Three and a half years.
We filed our claim with the High Court on April 18, 2024. Then the Government engaged in one delay after another, none of them more preposterous than claiming that the law they remain intent on enforcing today had been repealed in 1995! That is some contortion.
So, we were dragged into the Court of Appeal. The Government’s appeal was unanimously dismissed on February 28, 2025, and still it took us almost all of 2025 to get to trial.
The matter rests with the High Court. We are at the Court’s pleasure. That could be a long time.
But while we wait for the Court’s decision, we cannot be passive. Indeed, this is a crucial time for preparatory steps to be effective if/when the law is declared unconstitutional.
Our central goal is to shift from criminalization and punishment to legalization and education. The legal dimension is now in the Court’s hands. The shift to an emphasis on education requires action from advocates.
We must now strive to strengthen Health and Family Life Education (HFLE). No country in the Caribbean has met the minimum international standards for HFLE and Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). https://caribbean.unfpa.org/en/publications/formative-assessment-comprehensive-sexuality-education-within-health-and-family-life We must develop material and work with teachers to achieve radical improvement.
We must work with parents to encourage them to speak with their children about sex. Only about 5-10% of Caribbean parents do so. And typically, that is a one-off conversation: Tick the box and move on. This avoidance is harmful. We confuse innocence with ignorance at our children’s peril. Ignorance leaves them vulnerable to exploitation.
We must work with religious leaders to help them to strengthen their moral message, end their stigmatization of sex, and appreciate the positive role sex in all our lives.
There are about 70 schools in our state and almost 90 churches. Imagine the transformation we could achieve if we took HFLE seriously.
Our goal is to move from the old, reactive A&E, Accident and Emergency to a new, preventive A&E of Access and Education. All the data show that sex education delays sexual debut. Our fear that it encourages sexual activity is unfounded.
If any change in the law is to have meaning, we must roll up our sleeves and get to work. Now.
Sincerely
ASPIRE
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