Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

AS A parliamentary committee continues to deliberate changes to the laws governing abortion, a woman, who is alive today only because her mother refused to abort her despite being raped, is pleading with Jamaican women not to use the abortion option, no matter what the circumstances.

Armada Pinkins, who was horribly concieved in a case of rape, made the decision to abort her own child when she became pregnant as a student in college. Today, she regrets her decision and is on a crusade to prevent other women from making what she says is a major mistake.

Trust God

"I don't think there is any situation that justifies you taking that life. I know that there are different situations and medical conditions, but trust God. Whether you have to give that child up for adoption or whatever, and you never know," Dr Pinkins told The Sunday Gleaner recently.

Dr Pinkins' mother, Dorothy Pinkins, was only 14 years old and a virgin when she was raped by a 22-year-old neighbour in Alabama in the United States in 1953.

At that time, abortion was illegal in the US but still, parents and friends urged the young girl to abort the child.

The situation was further complicated when the man she accused of raping her denied the allegation and was never charged.

"But my mother decided that she would not abort the foetus and turned to God asking for guidance and support," Dr Pinkins said.

Her parents tried back-door measures and over-the-counter medication to induce the abortion, but these failed and Dorothy Pinkins delivered her child.

She had to leave the baby with her parents and drop out of school to do menial jobs until her child was seven years old when they were finally reunited in New York.

Thirteen years later, Armada, then 20, got pregnant while in college and decided that she could not allow a child to disrupt her education.

Future

"I decided to have an abortion because I was thinking about my life, my future and everything I wanted to do and I never had time or resources for a child," Dr Pinkins said.

"That was my one opportunity to have a child, and so today, I'm 55 years old and I have no children, although I love children," Dr Pinkins added.

She now operates the School of Destiny, which is a preparatory school in St Andrew, where she spends her days teaching and ministering to children. She is also a foster parent.

"It's interesting that years after my mother decided not to abort me I made the opposite decision and it cost me," said Dr Pinkins.

"I have regrets because I never gave birth to the only child I had an opportunity to have but my mother, who now lives in Florida, has no regrets," she added.