KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Police in Jamaica have arrested a doctor for allegedly performing an abortion on a pregnant 12-year-old.

Abortion is illegal in Jamaica, as it is in many other countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.

A Thursday police statement identifies the doctor as Lloyd Goldson, an established physician honored in 2009 for his work by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Goldson has been charged with allegedly procuring an abortion. The girl's mother has also been charged. Her daughter was four months pregnant.

Some health officials have argued that Jamaica should legalize abortion up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. But religious groups in the overwhelmingly Christian country argue that abortion is morally wrong.