Dear Editor,
Guyana is celebrated in many circles for having an excellent law- the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act that makes safe abortion services legal and helps to safeguard the health and wellbeing of pregnant people. Unfortunately, like many things in Guyana that appear great in theory but miserable failures in real practice, this law still has not been fully implemented, although over three decades have gone by since it was passed.
Currently, safe abortion care continues to be unavailable to significant numbers of Guyanese who need it, accessible only to those who can afford to travel to Georgetown or pay a private healthcare provider. This excellent law, recognizing this essential right, thus becomes yet another example of an unequal society where those with greater economic privilege benefit more, while those who are less ‘well off’ remain unable to enjoy all their rights.
I recently read Tamùkke’s Feminist Budget Analysis (FBA) of Guyana’s 2026 National Budget. It documents what many persons in hinterland communities already know from their lived experience- public abortion services remain concentrated in coastal hospitals. For a pregnant person in Region 1, 7, or 8, accessing safe abortion care means navigating long travel distances, high transportation costs and time away from work and family- barriers that many are unable to overcome.
In this way, geography becomes a mechanism of inequality, and a legal right becomes meaningless in practice. For me, this is not an isolated gap. It sits within a broader pattern the FBA calls the “prevention gap” – a consistent tendency within Guyana’s national budget to prioritise hospital infrastructure and emergency services over community-based care, reproductive health access, and preventive programming.
While health sector spending did increase from GYD$129.8 billion in 2024 to GYD$161.1 billion in 2026, the majority of public health facilities in the hinterland of Guyana still lack critical medication and equipment like X-ray and ultrasound machines, staff trained to operate these, and perform safe abortions.
Telemedicine services which could potentially also be very helpful in this regard, also remains very limited. While the overall budget grew by 36%, Family and Primary Health Care Services – the programme that covers maternal health, adolescent health and environmental health – grew by only 23% over the same period. Reproductive health services, including safe abortion care, needs to be prioritized and adequately funded, especially in hinterland regions.
The picture is even more troubling when we consider the health needs of Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans+ women. A sexual health study of LBT+ women in Guyana conducted by Tamùkke in 2024 found that this population faces severely restricted access to healthcare, particularly for safer sex information, cervical cancer screening, and bodily autonomy. Stigma – especially for those who do not follow traditional gender stereotypes – determined whether these individuals even seek care at all.
And yet, LGBTIQ+ communities are entirely invisible within the public health budgeting of Guyana. There is no targeted line item, no inclusion framework, no outreach mandate. This is unacceptable. LBTIQ and other gender and sexually diverse people are valuable members of Guyanese society and deserve the same rights, protections, and privileges as others, especially when it comes to accessing physical, sexual, reproductive, and mental healthcare.
At the same time, Comprehensive Sexuality Education remains absent from national programming- meaning that the knowledge young people need to accurately understand their physical and mental health needs and make healthy, informed decisions is not being systematically provided to them. These are not separate problems – they are connected threads in the same gap: a health system that is growing in size but not growing in scope, enlightenment, fairness, or real progress.
I support Tamùkke’s call for the expansion of safe abortion services in the public health sector throughout Guyana; for the national adoption and implementation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education; and for LGBTIQ+ communities to be explicitly reflected in public health budgeting and service design. I believe that these recommendations are grounded in evidence, consistent with Guyana’s own stated development goals, and within reach for a country with our current level of fiscal capacity.
Let me say this- reproductive rights are not a niche concern; they are foundational to public health, economic security, and the wellbeing of families across this country. When it comes to safe abortion- the law already says every Guyanese deserves access. The national budget must now say it too, and facilitate equity and rights for all, nationwide. This is what real progress and development begins to look like.
Yours truly,
Sherlina Nageer, MPH
