Scientists advise easing restrictions

Dubai: Restrictions on pregnancy terminations in Arab states have to be eased, adding more genetic disorders and criteria in a framework set by religious and scientific committee, scientists at a genetics conference recommended.

Dr Najeeb Al Khaja, President of the Centre for Arab Genomic Studies (CAGS) and speaking on behalf of the scientific faculty at the Pan Arab Human Genetics Conference, made the recommendation and several others as part of the Dubai Declaration.

"We, the scientific faculty, recommend that pregnancy termination be done for special cases under special conditions. We recommend the setting up of a committee, including medical experts and religious leaders, to list the disorders," he said.

Unexplained issues

Dr Najeeb later told the press, the Arab world needed to clarify and expand the rules and regulations governing abortion. In the UAE, abortion is allowed only if the mother's life is in danger and if the foetus had a severe debilitating disorder, in accordance with Islamic law.

"Abortion is currently done in the UAE but many diseases are not classified in this category.

"What do we mean by severe disease? Is it by its effect on the child? Or the harm it causes the mother? Or the family is too poor that they cannot afford treatment for the child? These issues should be made clear," he added.

He said the committee should be made up of religious scholars and legal and medical experts, who would then sit down and come up with a proper framework that will list the debilitating disorders, set down the criteria for abortion and how it should be done.

He added it was better to have formal guidelines for therapeutic abortion, using the latest technology and research, to remove confusion over the matter.

Dr Najeeb also said drug effects on a pregnancy might also be considered under the new guidelines, such as nausea medicine thalidomide which interferes with the development of the foetus. However, he said it would be up to the committee to decide what was appropriate.

Expanding the criteria for abortion and putting it down in a formal framework is likely to face an uphill battle.

Dr Mohammad Abdul Rahim Sultan Al Ulama, professor of Sharia and Islamic Studies at UAE University in Al Ain, earlier told Gulf News that a blanket law allowing therapeutic abortion was not feasible as it would be open to abuse.

"It must be done on case by case basis," he said. He has sat on two cases to decide whether to grant an abortion.

"After 120 days, abortion is never allowed unless there is a danger to the mother or a specialist committee say life will not be complete, if life will not be healthy," he said.

"In cases of thalassaemia babies, they cannot be aborted because there are many new treatments and cures available, such as bone marrow and stem cell transplant," he added.