- Abortion legal status
- Illegal
Updated July 2026 · Sources cited: gogoodtravel.com, foxnews.com
Good to know
Good to Know
- There's no physical Crisis Centre office on Long Island — the Bahamas Crisis Centre and national crisis hotline are phone-based support you can reach from anywhere in the country, but in-person counselling and forensic exam services are centered in Nassau.
- The public clinics on Long Island (Clarence Town, Deadman's Cay, Simms) only operate weekdays 9am-5pm, so plan around this if you need contraception-related care — don't count on weekend or after-hours access.
- Emergency contraception is legal but not guaranteed to be in stock at every pharmacy or clinic on a small Family Island like Long Island — if EC access matters to your plans, it's safer to bring a supply with you or arrange it before travelling to the island rather than assuming you can buy it locally on short notice.
- For a serious assault, calling 911 first is still the right move; the Crisis Centre hotline and national crisis line are better suited to follow-up emotional support and advocacy than to an active emergency.
- There is no dedicated OBGYN specialist based on Long Island itself — for anything beyond basic care at a local community clinic, expect to fly or ferry to Nassau, so plan ahead if you're pregnant or need gynaecological care while staying on the island.
- Abortion is illegal in the Bahamas except in a narrow set of circumstances (health, life, foetal deformity, rape/incest) and only when performed in a hospital by a licensed physician — there is no on-request or elective abortion option anywhere in the country, including Long Island.
- If you need to arrange termination of a pregnancy, the safer and legally clean route is traveling to a jurisdiction where abortion is legal (many people travel to nearby U.S. states) rather than relying on unverified local pills or informal providers, given documented cases of unsupervised abortion attempts causing serious harm.
Street, Night and Taxi Safety
Overall Safety on Long Island Itself
Long Island is one of the Bahamian Family (Out) Islands, and sources specifically describe it as peaceful and low-crime with no major travel advisories attached to it, unlike New Providence (Nassau) or Grand Bahama (Freeport). A guide covering each island individually notes it is known for natural beauty and being very isolated, with very low crime rates and no major travel advisory flagged against it.
How Long Island Differs From Nassau/Freeport
The bulk of documented violent crime and sexual assault risk in the Bahamas is concentrated on New Providence and Grand Bahama, not the family islands. U.S. officials have stated that although the family islands are not crime-free, the vast majority of crime occurs on New Providence and Grand Bahama islands. A women-focused Bahamas guide similarly describes Long Island and the other Family Islands as small communities where crime against visitors is rare and being a woman alone is unremarkable, with the main risks there being environmental (boats, sun, currents, distance from medical care) rather than criminal.
Walking Alone and Evenings
General Bahamas safety guidance recommends avoiding walking alone after dark, skipping hitchhiking, and steering clear of deserted or poorly lit areas; this advice is written for the country as a whole rather than specifically documented incidents on Long Island. Given Long Island's small, close-knit settlements, the practical risk is lower than in Nassau, but the same caution around isolated spots and unlit roads at night is still sensible since the island is rural with limited lighting and emergency services.
Boat Tours, Jet Skis and Water Excursions
A Bahamas-wide (not Long Island-specific) pattern documented by the U.S. Embassy and State Department is sexual assault by jet-ski and watercraft operators; the embassy said it had received multiple reports involving jet-ski operators and U.S. women in 2024, 2025 and 2026. The State Department advisory also flags that boating and recreational watercraft in the Bahamas are not well regulated. Anyone booking a boat, jet-ski, or water tour on Long Island should use a known, reputable local operator and consider going with others rather than alone.
Taxis and Getting Around
Country-wide guidance recommends licensed taxis over unlicensed vehicles or hitchhiking, particularly at night; on an island the size of Long Island, transport is informal (often rental cars or golf carts rather than taxi apps common in Nassau). A solo-travel discussion specific to Long Island describes it as safe in comparison to Nassau, with a traveler who visited twice alone reporting no issues getting around parts of her trip solo.
Abortion Law And OB-GYN
Abortion Law
- Access Routes
- Legal access is effectively restricted to cases where a licensed physician deems the procedure necessary on health, life-preservation, foetal-deformity, rape, or incest grounds, and it must be performed in a hospital. Outside that narrow exception, terminating a pregnancy is a criminal offence carrying up to 10 years' imprisonment, and there is no legal elective/on-request abortion route in the country. Women who need a termination outside the narrow legal exception commonly either travel to a jurisdiction where abortion is legal (frequently nearby parts of the United States such as Florida) or seek care informally within the Bahamas — a practice several public officials, journalists, and physicians describe as widespread but medically unsupervised and legally risky.
- Legal Summary
- Abortion in the Bahamas is illegal in most cases, governed by the Penal Code (Section 315), which states that whoever intentionally and unlawfully causes an abortion or miscarriage is liable to up to 10 years' imprisonment. The law permits an exception where the act is done in good faith for the purposes of medical or surgical treatment, and the Bahamian government has told the UN CEDAW committee that abortions are in practice performed on grounds of foetal deformity, rape or incest, and on health grounds, provided the procedure is carried out in a hospital by a licensed physician.
- Regulatory Status
- illegal
- Abortion Time Limits
- No explicit statutory abortion time limit exists for the narrow legal exception. The Bahamian government told the CEDAW committee that abortions are usually performed within the first trimester, though they are often allowed up to 20 weeks of pregnancy where the health-grounds exception applies.
- Scam And Risk Warnings
- Because the domestic market for pills or informal procedures operates outside any legal or regulatory oversight, there is no way to verify the safety, authenticity, or dosage of medication obtained this way, and no licensing or accountability for informal providers. Do not rely on informal local go-betweens or unverified online sellers for abortion medication.
- Safety And Harm Reduction Notes
- A former head of obstetrics and gynaecology at the country's main public hospital has raised concern about women and girls presenting after a self-managed or unsupervised abortion attempt went wrong, with many cases tied to unsupervised use of abortion pills obtained outside a medical setting. Anyone facing an unwanted pregnancy in the Bahamas should be aware that self-sourced pills of unknown origin/dosage carry real medical risk, and that a hospital emergency room will treat abortion complications regardless of the circumstances of the abortion.
OB-GYN Options In City
- Local Availability Summary
- Long Island (the out-island, not Nassau) does not have a dedicated, named OBGYN specialist or women's health clinic based on the island itself. Healthcare access on Long Island is limited to a small number of government community clinics offering basic outpatient/general care, plus at least one private general/family practice clinic; obstetric/gynaecological specialist care and hospital-based delivery require travel off-island, most commonly to Nassau.
Local General Clinics
Deadman's Cay Community Clinic (Public)
- Phone
- +1-242-337-1222 / 337-1242
- Type
- Government-run community clinic — general/basic outpatient care, not a dedicated OBGYN facility
- Hours
- 9:00 am–5:00 pm, Monday–Friday, closed public holidays
- Location
- Deadman's Cay, Long Island
Clarence Town Community Clinic (Public)
- Phone
- +1-242-337-3333
- Type
- Government-run community clinic — general/basic outpatient care, not a dedicated OBGYN facility
- Hours
- 9:00 am–5:00 pm, Monday–Friday, closed public holidays
- Location
- Clarence Town, Long Island
Simms Community Clinic (Public)
- Phone
- +1-242-338-8488
- Type
- Government-run community clinic — general/basic outpatient care, not a dedicated OBGYN facility
- Hours
- 9:00 am–5:00 pm, Monday–Friday, closed public holidays
- Location
- Simms, Long Island
Long Island MD Medical Clinic
- Type
- Private general & family practice clinic (not an OBGYN specialist practice)
- Location
- Hamilton's, Long Island
Nearest Named OB-GYN Specialists Off Island
- Note On Distance
- These are in Nassau, reached only by domestic flight or ferry from Long Island — not within a 10-minute proximity of Long Island itself. Listed because they are the nearest real specialist access route for anyone on Long Island needing OBGYN care.
Options
The Women's Specialist Medical Centre — Dr. Lorne Charles, OBGYN
- Location
- Collins Ave, Centreville Medical Centre Complex, Nassau
- Notes
- Board-certified obstetrician & gynaecologist, consultant OB/GYN at Princess Margaret Hospital (Nassau's public hospital).
Family Medicine Center — Dr. Nina Graham, OBGYN
- Location
- Nassau
- Notes
- OB/GYN offering reproductive health, prenatal, and preventative care.
The Ladies Medical Centre
- Location
- Nassau
- Notes
- OB/GYN practice with on-site surgical suites.
Princess Margaret Hospital, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
- Location
- Shirley Street, Nassau
- Notes
- The main public hospital referral point for the Bahamas, including for out-island patients requiring hospital-level obstetric/gynaecological care.
Assault Resources
Bahamas Crisis Centre
- Services
- Free counselling and advocacy for victims of domestic, physical, sexual and emotional abuse; it has historically pushed for reforms like the use of rape kits in hospitals and a dedicated sexual assault room at Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau.
- Description
- The Bahamas Crisis Centre exists to help women, men and children who are facing domestic violence, abuse or any situation of crisis, and operates a hotline open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Physical Location Note
- The Crisis Centre is a private, non-profit organization physically located in Nassau, New Providence — there is no walk-in branch on Long Island, but the hotline number is answered nationally by phone regardless of which island you're calling from.
Hotline Numbers
- 242-328-0922
- 242-323-6203
Medical Forensic Care
- Note
- Long Island's own clinics (Clarence Town, Deadman's Cay, Simms) are small government community clinics with weekday daytime hours (9am-5pm) and are not set up for specialist forensic sexual-assault exams; the dedicated sexual assault room and rape-kit protocols developed with the Crisis Centre are based at Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau, so a serious assault case would typically require evacuation/referral off-island for a full forensic exam.
National Emergency Number
- Number
- 911 (or 919 in some island areas)
- Description
- General emergency number for police/ambulance response, applicable on Long Island as elsewhere in the Bahamas.
National Crisis Intervention Hotline
- How To Access
- Number is published on the official bahamas.gov.bs Department of Social Services emergency contacts sheet; on a remote island the practical first call for an active emergency should still be 911, with the Crisis Centre / national hotline used for follow-up support and counselling.
- Description
- A government-run National Hotline for 24-Hour Crisis Intervention is listed as covering both New Providence and the Family Islands (which includes Long Island), run through the Department of Social Services.
Contraception Access
IUD And Implant
- Access
- Longer-acting methods such as IUDs and contraceptive implants generally require a hospital or specialist clinic visit for insertion rather than being available at a pharmacy.
- Legal Status
- Fully legal and regulated
- Long Island Specific Note
- Long Island's community clinics are basic and staffed for general/primary care; insertion or removal of an IUD or implant is far more likely to require travel to Nassau (e.g. to a women's health specialist clinic) than to be available locally on Long Island.
Emergency Contraception
- Access
- Emergency contraceptive pills (morning-after pills) are legally obtainable in the Bahamas, but availability is inconsistent and they may only be stocked at dedicated family planning clinics rather than general pharmacies, with one commonly available brand being Optinor.
- Legal Status
- Fully legal and regulated
- Timing Note
- Emergency contraception is most effective taken as soon as possible after unprotected sex, generally within 72 hours (some regimens up to 120 hours).
- Long Island Specific Note
- Given Long Island's small weekday-only government clinics and lack of a dedicated family planning clinic on-island, EC access is not reliably guaranteed locally — the only confirmed Bahamas Family Planning Association (BFPA) services are Nassau-based, so travelling nomads should plan ahead (e.g. carrying EC or a prescribed supply) rather than assuming it can be sourced same-day on the island.
Pill Oral Contraceptives
- Access
- Birth control pills can be purchased at Bahamian pharmacies, and while a prescription is technically required this is not typically strictly enforced, making the pill widely accessible over the counter at pharmacies nationally.
- Legal Status
- Fully legal and regulated
- Long Island Specific Note
- Long Island has no large pharmacy chain; the government community clinics at Clarence Town, Deadman's Cay and Simms are the main public health-access points, open weekdays 9am-5pm only, so stock and availability can be inconsistent — nomads on the island long-term should not assume same-day availability.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
Sources cited for this category
These are the sources cited in this women's health & safety research for this city. Individual figures may not each trace to one of them.
More About Long Island Bahamas
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- Connectivity & Internet in Long Island Bahamas
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- Walkability & Transport in Long Island Bahamas
- Climate & Weather in Long Island Bahamas
Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.