Shas­tri Boodan

Life is sa­cred says Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, the po­lit­i­cal leader of the Peo­ple's Part­ner­ship in the up­com­ing May 24 gen­er­al elec­tion.

She made the com­ment in re­sponse to ques­tions about her views on abor­tion and cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. She met with lead­ers from the Pen­te­costal and Evan­gel­i­cal Church­es yes­ter­day at the Kam-Po Restau­rant, Ch­agua­nas. Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­so dealt with ques­tions on same-sex mar­riages.

She said her po­si­tion on same-sex mar­riages re­mains the same as when the UNC passed equal op­por­tu­ni­ty leg­is­la­tion dur­ing its 1995 to 2001 tenure in of­fice. Per­sad-Bisses­sar said a Peo­ple's Part­ner­ship Gov­ern­ment would be guid­ed by laws of T&T on the is­sues of abor­tion and cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. She said if the law was to be changed con­cern­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and abor­tion it would come from a ref­er­en­dum of the peo­ple. "That is a democ­ra­cy," she added.

She said her Gov­ern­ment would not change laws "willy nil­ly." Per­sad-Bisses­sar said she had no prob­lem with the Gua­napo Church be­ing built for Prime Min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning's prophet­ess Rev Ju­lia Pe­na. She said: "That is­sue I raised about the Gua­napo build­ing has noth­ing to do with re­li­gion. That is what my op­po­nents are say­ing... It had to do with in­tegri­ty and jus­tice and that is why I raised those is­sues."