Last month in Buenos Aires, Elizabeth, a 34-year-old mother of two, died after inserting parsley into her cervix in a desperate attempt to induce an abortion.
Days earlier, the Argentine Senate had narrowly defeated legislation that would have legalized abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
If that bill had passed, Elizabeth might be alive today. Instead, she is a grim statistic: one of more than 40 Argentine women who will die this year from botched abortions.
Today, activists around the world are to mark International Safe Abortion Day, an opportunity to mourn those who have died because of oppressive anti-abortion laws.
However, this day is also about spreading a message on behalf of Elizabeth and other women like her: Abortion, while in many countries a political wedge issue, is simply a fact of life.
Each year, 25 percent of all pregnancies — about 56 million — are terminated. Abortions occur in every country and within every socioeconomic class.
In the US, 61 percent of abortion patients are in their 20s, 59 percent are already mothers and nearly two-thirds identify with an organized religion.
However, abortion is most common in developing countries, where access to family-planning services is often limited. A staggering 88 percent of the world’s abortions occur in the global south.
Abortion is a safe procedure that becomes hazardous wherever it is legally restricted. Only about 55 percent of all abortions performed each year are safe, and complications from risky procedures — often the only options available to women who live in places where effective methods are criminalized — lead to about 7 million hospitalizations and kill 47,000 women every year.
The struggle for safe abortion is centuries old. While the methods varied, abortion was a normal — and often accepted — practice in ancient China, Egypt, Greece and Rome. It was only in the 19th century that Catholic and colonial elites propagated anti-abortion laws to control women’s sexuality, bodies and lives.
However, contrary to popular opinion, criminalization does not reduce the number of abortions; it only makes having one more dangerous.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, where the procedure is banned or restricted, rates of abortion — and resulting complications — are among the highest in the world.
By contrast, in North America and Western Europe, where abortion is legal and widely accessible, rates of abortion are comparatively low and safety is high.
Moreover, when abortion is decriminalized, death rates fall and maternal injuries vanish almost overnight.
For example, a year after Romania decriminalized abortion in 1990, maternal deaths fell by half, while in South Africa, deaths plummeted 91 percent in the first four years after passage of the 1996 Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act.
Simply put, there is no medical reason why any woman should have to risk her life to end an unwanted pregnancy.
Buoyed by these statistics, activists around the world are demanding changes to national abortion laws, and since 2000, more than 30 nations have liberalized their approach.
In May, voters in Ireland repealed the nation’s abortion ban, a significant victory in a society so deeply influenced by its Catholic faith.
Even in Argentina, hope remains high. Opinion polls show strong support for abortion rights and the bill that could have saved Elizabeth’s life failed by only seven votes.
Still, the fight is far from over. Globally, Internet searches for misoprostol, a drug that women use to induce abortion safely, are surging.
In South Africa, only about 5 percent of public clinics and hospitals offer abortions, and one-third of women still do not even know that abortion is legal.
Meanwhile, in Morocco, women who campaign for abortion rights are arrested and harassed, and in the US, activists are preparing for a rollback of reproductive freedom if Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed.
The fiercest opposition to abortion rights originates with the Catholic Church and other conservative forces, and it has direct consequences for women and for their nations’ healthcare systems.
Research conducted by my organization, the International Women’s Health Coalition, found that in more than 70 jurisdictions worldwide — including 45 US states — healthcare providers can deny abortion services to patients based simply on doctors’ personal beliefs.
These restrictions are unconscionable. Abortion is part of women’s lives. It is time for governments to listen to the millions of women who are demanding reproductive justice and bodily autonomy.
Laws must recognize and guarantee a woman’s right to sexual and reproductive care. Services must be made financially and medically accessible, and women everywhere — regardless of age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religious affiliation — must have access to safe abortion services.
Elizabeth never had these opportunities and millions of women around the world are in the same position. Unless and until that changes, every one of them is a potential tragedy.
Francoise Girard is president of the International Women’s Health Coalition.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
As Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s party won by a landslide in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it is a good time to take another look at recent developments in the Maldivian foreign policy. While Muizzu has been promoting his “Maldives First” policy, the agenda seems to have lost sight of a number of factors. Contemporary Maldivian policy serves as a stark illustration of how a blend of missteps in public posturing, populist agendas and inattentive leadership can lead to diplomatic setbacks and damage a country’s long-term foreign policy priorities. Over the past few months, Maldivian foreign policy has entangled itself in playing
A group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers led by the party’s legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (?) are to visit Beijing for four days this week, but some have questioned the timing and purpose of the visit, which demonstrates the KMT caucus’ increasing arrogance. Fu on Wednesday last week confirmed that following an invitation by Beijing, he would lead a group of lawmakers to China from Thursday to Sunday to discuss tourism and agricultural exports, but he refused to say whether they would meet with Chinese officials. That the visit is taking place during the legislative session and in the aftermath