Zika abortion: Set up advisory board, says IMAM

A ministerial level medical bio-ethics advisory board should be formed by the Health Ministry to deal with the issue termination of pregnancy for women infected by the Zika virus, said the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia (IMAM).

Its deputy president, Dr Jamali Wagiman said the board members should comprise experts s from obstetrics, infectious diseases, psychiatry, bio-ethics and religions.

"The committee will meet regularly to set the best practice guidelines through collective decision-making and thus acknowledges the roles of both experts in medicine and religion," he said in a statement Saturday.

Dr Jamali said the decision-making process would be safer and just to the mother and , other than avoiding unilateral decisions which could be seen as conflicting between medical practice and rules.

He said any decision on abortion in the case of pregnant women infected by Zika should not be hastily implemented to avoid misunderstanding and injustice to the patient and .

IMAM also proposed that parents who were positive with Zika or those staying in areas which were active with the Zika plague to use contraceptives or plan their pregnancies.

"Such methods conform to the concept of Tanzim -Nasl (planning of progeny) which is judged permissible in Islam. It's a more natural and parenting friendly and capable of avoiding unnecessary abortions," he added.

"Prior to this, Federal Territories Mufti Datuk Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri was quoted as saying that Muslim women could abort their pregnancies if they were infected by the Zika virus to avoid on the lives of their families or the baby itself.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said he accepted the views of the Federal Territories Mufti on abortion for mothers infected with Zika, but expressed the need for the matters to be discussed by the National Fatwa Council.