Abortion in the United States Virgin Islands

Abortion in the United States Virgin Islands is legal on request up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, and afterwards only in cases that endanger the life or health of the mother. There are five clinics in the territory. Women travel from the British Virgin Islands for abortions because it is illegal there.

Terminology
Main article: Abortion

The abortion debate most commonly relates to the "induced abortion" of an embryo or fetus at some point in a pregnancy, which is also how the term is used in a legal sense.[note 1] Some also use the term "elective abortion", which is used in relation to a claim to an unrestricted right of a woman to an abortion, whether or not she chooses to have one. The term elective abortion or voluntary abortion describes the interruption of pregnancy before viability at the request of the woman, but not for medical reasons.[1]

Anti-abortion advocates tend to use terms such as "unborn baby", "unborn child", or "pre-born child",[2][3] and see the medical terms "embryo", "zygote", and "fetus" as dehumanizing.[4][5] Both "pro-choice" and "pro-life" are examples of terms labeled as political framing: they are terms which purposely try to define their philosophies in the best possible light, while by definition attempting to describe their opposition in the worst possible light. "Pro-choice" implies that the alternative viewpoint is "anti-choice", while "pro-life" implies the alternative viewpoint is "pro-death" or "anti-life".[6] The Associated Press encourages journalists to use the terms "abortion rights" and "anti-abortion".[7]

Abortion is allowed in the United States Virgin Islands on request up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, and afterwards only in cases that endanger the life or health of the mother. Abortion may only be performed by a licensed physician, and after 12 weeks of pregnancy only by a surgeon or gynecologist at a hospital.[8]

Abortion clinics

There are five abortion clinics in the U.S. Virgin Islands. One is in St. Thomas, one in St. Croix and three are in St. John.[9]

History

Women from the British Virgin Islands who need an abortion were traveling to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2016 to get an abortion because abortion is illegal in the British Virgin Islands.[10] Pregnant women in the U.S. Virgin Islands were at risk of getting the Zika virus, which causes major fetal defects. These defects can be so severe that they warrant terminating a pregnancy.[11]

Contraceptives

In 1994, the U.S. Virgin Islands included family planning services as part of their Medicaid program. These services included contraceptive services and supplies, and sterilizations.[12]

Footnotes
  1. According to the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade:
    (a) For the stage prior to approximately the end of the first trimester, the abortion decision and its effectuation must be left to the medical judgement of the pregnant woman's attending physician. (b) For the stage subsequent to approximately the end of the first trimester, the State, in promoting its interest in the health of the mother, may, if it chooses, regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health. (c) For the stage subsequent to viability, the State in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgement, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother.
    Likewise, Black's Law Dictionary defines abortion as "knowing destruction" or "intentional expulsion or removal".


References
  1. Watson, Katie (20 Dec 2019). "Why We Should Stop Using the Term "Elective Abortion"". AMA Journal of Ethics. 20: E1175-1180. doi:10.1001/amajethics.2018.1175. PMID 30585581. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  2. Chamberlain, Pam; Hardisty, Jean (2007). "The Importance of the Political 'Framing' of Abortion". The Public Eye Magazine. 14 (1).
  3. "The Roberts Court Takes on Abortion". New York Times. November 5, 2006. Retrieved January 18, 2008.
  4. Brennan 'Dehumanizing the vulnerable' 2000
  5. Getek, Kathryn; Cunningham, Mark (February 1996). "A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing – Language and the Abortion Debate". Princeton Progressive Review.
  6. "Example of "anti-life" terminology" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  7. Goldstein, Norm, ed. The Associated Press Stylebook. Philadelphia: Basic Books, 2007.
  8. Abortion, 2019 US Virgin Islands Code, Title 14 § 151.
  9. Worrell, Marc. "U.S. Virgin Islands (Saint Croix, Saint John, Saint Thomas)". Women on Waves (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  10. "In the Caribbean, crossing borders by land and sea for safe abortions". Reuters. 2016-05-26. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  11. Gani, Aisha (2016-01-29). "Zika virus: the options facing pregnant women across Latin America". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  12. "Public Funding for Contraceptive, Sterilization and Abortion Services, 1994". Guttmacher Institute. 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
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