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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 Nassau, Bahamas - Statement by the Hon. Glenys Hanna Martin on Richard Lightbourn’s comments at FNM Convention, communicated in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 3rd August, 2016:
Mr. Speaker, I rise to make a communication on behalf of all members on this side of this Honourable House in response to recent official utterances made by the Member for Montagu at the FNM Convention on 29th July, 2016 at the Melia Hotel Resort, West Bay Street.
Mr. Speaker, the Member published the following words at that Convention which were broadcast live to the nation:
“It is also necessary for us as a nation to consider adopting the lead of several countries in the world which result in unwed mother having her tubes tied after having more than two children, which would in the end result in fewer children being born.
“The state should not have the burden of paying for the upbringing of children.
“By adopting such measures, there will be less classrooms needed in the future, less out of school every year seeking employment and would also result in the mother of these children being able to live a better life, not having to bring up so many children.
“Many young women have five and six children many of whom are born out of wedlock.
Many of the fathers of those children have little involvement in the child’s upbringing either emotional or financial.
“The laws of our country and the legal system is such the father is not likely to be compelled to assist financially in the upbringing of the child.” The emphasis is mine.
Mr. Speaker, These comments have generated across-the-board outrage and shock in the wider population, particularly amongst women and indeed have had the effect of placing The Bahamas in a negative spotlight both in the region and in the wider international arena.
Mr. Speaker, in his speech the Member for Montagu advocates for policies which would cause for Bahamian women and in particular unmarried Bahamian women to be sterilized (the circumstances and details of just how such an exercise would be effected not being made clear) after having given birth to two children only so as to limit the number of children such a woman could have.
This Member lectures the listening Bahamian public and Bahamian women in particular that the State should not have the burden of “paying for the upbringing of children”.
Mr. Speaker, these references are reminiscent of toxic stereotypes which have a tragic history for our people and evidence a disdainful bias against our Bahamian women and in particular working class Bahamian women: His comments are a blight and an indictment, an insult and an assault on poor women in our country perhaps the most vulnerable grouping in our society.
Rather than advocate for support which would provide an easier environment for women to love, nurture and support their children, the Member instead advocates in a cold and calculated fashion for the stifling of her rights to reproduce as a member of the human family.
Rather than anticipate greater empowerment for women and her children, the member anticipates the desirability of less classrooms. Indeed Mr. Speaker, what is most worrisome is that this very demographic of Bahamian women makes up a significant portion of his own constituency.
Perhaps this provided the inspiration for his ideas.
These considered comments on a political platform from the lips of a legislator brazenly advocate for women from a specific demographic within our country to have abbreviated or reduced human rights by the restriction of their reproductive rights.
His comments objectify women and in particular poor women. These are the very women throughout our history and by their efforts made sacrifice and built this country and mothered our professionals, our great athletes, our outstanding artists, our Prime Ministers.
As one very well-known and valued public figure said to me this morning, that by this proposed formula, he being a fourth child born to a single mother would not be here today, maybe some of us in here would not be here today.
The comments are cruel, insensitive and offensive.
The benefits of such a policy of sterilization of Bahamian women, the Member advocates, are that the State will not have to build any more classrooms and there will be less people looking for work and that the mother of these children would be able to live a better life, not having to bring up so many children.
Mr. Speaker, These utterances made so boldly from a political podium offends every woman everywhere and indeed should offend all people.
They are reminiscent of very dark days in human history where sterilization was used as a means of the elite for controlling the fertility of “undesirable” populations, such as the poor, black people, unmarried mothers, the disabled, the mentally ill.
These comments and the thoughts they project are repugnant to any society which upholds the dignity of human rights even the human rights of the poor and unwed mothers. They are repugnant to the cherished principles of all right-thinking people.
Reproductive rights are human rights. A woman’s fundamental human right to reproduce is according to the Universal Declaration of Human rights related to multiple human rights: the right to life, the right to be free from torture, the right to health, the right to privacy, the right to education and the prohibition of discrimination. Mr. Speaker women are full, human beings and their rights to reproduce are central to their autonomy.
The economic status or race of a woman does not diminish her fundamental human rights on this planet.
And we notewith grave concern that apart from a quickly drafted release from the FNM in the aftermath of the Member’s comments, the Leader of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition has yet to utter a word in response to these comments. They appear to have sat comfortably with him all these many days later.
Mr. Speaker, we on this side abhor and condemn the member for his comments. As we have previously invited him to do, we again invite the Member for Montagu to seriously contemplate whether his type of thinking is consonant with the core values of our country and suited for public service in our country. We think not.
© Copyright 2016 by thebahamasweekly.com
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