Women’s Rights to Safe and Legal Abortion
The US Supreme Court ruling last summer that overturned the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion. ( It has been 50 years since the Roe v. Wade ruling, which in 1973 legalized the right to abortion throughout the United States. The judges of the highest court in the United States ruled last June that that opinion had been wrong).
The move makes the United States an outlier among developed countries when it comes to abortion rights, but this rollback in women’s equality is part of a broader trend.
Most abortions are now banned in 14 states following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Georgia also bans abortion at about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
Women’s political and economic empowerment is stalling or declining around the world—and the assault on women’s rights coincides with a global democratic recession. We can see where equality for women is reversing at the same time that authoritarianism is on the rise.
With all the old abortion misinformation and post-Roe tactics that are spread around the world.
Millions of people are being denied the right to autonomy of their bodies and access to essential health care.
Abortion which is the expulsion from the womb of a foetus or embryo before it is fully developed, with loss of the foetus, remains one of the most controversial, emotional and burning political issues of our time. It is widely acknowledged that in countries in which abortion is legally restricted, women seek abortions in a secretive and illicit way, under conditions that are medically unsafe and therefore life threatening.
A woman’s ability to exercise her rights to control her body, to self-determination, and to health depends, in part, on her right to determine whether to carry a pregnancy to term. Women and girls who face punishment for having an abortion are not less likely to attempt abortion, but are more likely to have medically unsafe services.
When law restricts abortion, trained providers may be reluctant to perform abortions. In situations where abortion is allowed to save the woman’s life, some medical personnel refuse due to conscientious belief, societal reprimand or even fear of legal repercussions. Such situations force women to seek unsafe abortions. An unsafe abortion is a serious public health problem and human rights issue and this can lead to maternal mortality, and the particular reason for maternal mortality in most cases is a woman’s lack of access to safe legal abortion.
Abortion is a common experience for U.S. women of reproductive age—approximately 1 in 4 will have an abortion by age 45. In the United States, 13.5 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age were reported in 2017. Despite abortion being common, most people face systemic and socio-cultural barriers limiting access to abortion services. Attitudes that condemn abortion emerge in policy, systems, paternalism, religion, etc. Manifestations of abortion stigma may influence people’s ability to exercise reproductive autonomy.
Legally, there’s an Abortion Act of 1967 that provided that a pregnancy may be legally terminated by a registered medical practitioner where two doctors certify the existence of certain circumstances: either that the continuance of pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, or of injury to her physical or mental health, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated; or that there is substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.
Despite the existence of this Act, many women are stigmatized and punished for practicing abortion. Some men do not want their wives, children, sisters or girlfriends to practice abortion forgetting that they’re entitled to making decisions concerning their body for themselves. I believe abortion should not be enforced or discouraged.
It should be the lady’s choice to decide whether or not she wants to keep the baby and even if her decision will be influenced by anyone, it should be on a mutual agreement. The lady must have her own criteria and be able to decide her own body control.The denial of free access to abortion service is a denial of their fundamental human right.
