All women will have to undergo mandatory counselling before getting an abortion, if the proposal by the Minister of Health (MOH) follows through.
A review of the termination of pregnancy guidelines was initiated in March 2013 and a public consultation has been scheduled for later this year.
Currently, the majority of women who wish to undergo abortion are already receiving counselling counselling.
Those who aren’t required to do so include women without a Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) certification or secondary education, women with three or more children and foreigners.
The number of women requesting to terminate their pregnancy has been on a downward trend since 2008, falling from 12,208 in 2011 to 10,960 in 2012.
Inversely, those who kept their pregnancy after counselling increased, from 268 in 2011 to 336 in 2012.
Some of the contents of pre-abortion counselling being reviewed include making the counselling sessions more informative and providing better training to counsellors.
Source: Channel NewsAsia
Photo: AFP
