The Neglected Female Rights
The feminist fight in the Western world began to acquire recognition in the beginning of the 20th century with the suffragists and their claim to women’s right to vote. As time went by, the feminist movement gained much more voice inside the (male) society back then. Women started fighting for their rights all over the world, not only to vote, but also to work, to dress as pleased, to speak-out, to NOT be raped, to live.
Even if the movement has evolved immensely since it started, there is still a long road to achieve women’s emancipation and equality. And, between the main and most controversial subjects on that matter are the right to abortion and the legislation on female reproductive rights.
Inside the debate on women’s rights, there are those who perceive that the power to own your choices and the access to information regarding your own body are basic human rights. And there are those who believe that abortion should be criminalized and that sexual health and education are nefarious things.
The reality we have to face is that women have their rights denied by governments and a society ruled by men. In which approximately 25% of the world’s population lives in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws, where talking about sexual health is still a taboo and feminicide is practically disregarded.
Know yourself, own yourself
Reproductive rights consist in the basic human rights regarding reproductive freedom and health. A few of the most important claims on the issue are:
· Legal, safe, and affordable abortion and contraception.
· Good obstetric and prenatal care for Maternal Health.
· Funding for Reproductive Healthcare so that all women can have access to safe and healthy care even when they can’t afford it.
· Accessible information about reproductive health that is free from censorship.
They exist to guarantee that no one but you should be able to make choices over your own body. Control over sexual and reproductive choices often ends up in the hands of everyone but the woman. For husbands, family members, religious groups and the governments themselves it’s way easier to manipulate females if they don’t have an understanding or any control whatsoever over their bodies and choices.
One of the main concerns related to reproductive rights today, consists in the lack of access to the information on sexual health and care, and the legal means to access it. People living in poverty or minorities have limited or not even any means to access to basic information on menstruation, sexual relations, abortion, pregnancy or the female body. Which happens not only because of the social taboos on talking about sex and reproduction, but because women are historically condemned for wanting to empower themselves through knowledge.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 16 million girls aged 15 to 19 and some 1 million girls under 15 give birth every year, especially in low and middle-income countries. And complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the second leading cause of death for 15–19 year-old girls globally.
The scope of the problem is that the governments don’t provide any form of sexual education or support for the population, especially in developing countries. That aggravates not only the social, but also the economic situation on those places.
Children and teenagers are daily raped by people inside their communities, without even knowing what rape means. Data shows that complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the second leading cause of death for 15–19 year-old girls globally. And that every year, approximately 3 million girls aged 15 to 19 undergo unsafe abortions.
Therefore, other than trying to raise awareness amongst people, the reproductive right’s activists have another goal on women empowerment: universal access to abortion.
The liberalization of abortion is the subject of intense controversy and, constantly challenged, once established. Some defend access to abortion as a human right, a woman’s right, a sexual and reproductive right, and a right to health given the dangers of illegal abortions, while others condemn it in the name of the embryo’s right to life.
Abortion is happening!
When we talk about such a relevant matter as abortion, it seems disregarding simply to affirm that it is the interruption of a pregnancy. Still, it is what it is. The social opinion on abortion shouldn’t have to go further than the understanding that it is the choice or need to end a pregnancy before the embryo or fetus can survive outside the uterus.
Even though the look on abortion always goes to a “pro-life” discussion or the arguing that it should be a personal choice, abortion still occurs, one way or the other.
Records have shown that abortion is not a 21th century tendency. Throughout history, it has taken different forms in different political, social, and cultural contexts. Ancient Greek philosophers were already talking about the issue in their works on 4th-century BC, such as Aristotle in his work The Politics. And the idea of creating restrictive laws regarding abortion became popular around the world only in second half of the 19th century.
Regardless of country, religion, ethnicity abortion happens.
Opponents of legalization hold that decriminalizing abortion leads to increased abortion rates. However, scientific data show that that is not the case. According to the Guttmacher Institute, “abortion rates in countries where abortion is legal are similar to those in countries where it’s illegal. In parts of the world where abortion is illegal, botched abortions still cause about 8 to 11 percent of all maternal deaths, or about 30,000 each year. But abortion-related deaths are much less common than they were a few decades ago, especially in countries with functional health-care systems. Since the early ’90s, abortion fatalities have declined by 42 percent globally”.
Governments around the world should not be questioning or restricting their citizen’s right to own choices over their bodies and future life, but working on how to provide the legal means and access for those who want to make those choices safely.
According to the World Health Organization, almost every abortion death and disability could be prevented through sexuality education, use of effective contraception, provision of safe, legal induced abortion, and timely care for complications. That is why abortion and reproductive rights, walk hand in hand.
Abortion is a human right that has been denied to women for centuries.
Whoever you are, wherever you live, all the decisions you make about your body should be yours. It seems absurd to have to live in a world where women have to tolerate laws that legislate those choices. Still, there are twenty-six countries where all abortions are illegal, even if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.
The concerns we should be having are not if what the woman is doing is right (for that is, once again, her choice), but why she hasn’t got the opportunity to do it the right way — by trained medical professionals in sanitary settings. Abortion and reproductive rights are a matter of public health, not a religious or ethical debate.
The governmental measures that need to be took regarding abortion and reproductive rights are pretty simple. Firstly, legalizing and providing safe abortions for women, and secondly, efficiently going after those who perpetuate discriminatory practices that limit women’s right to make their own decisions.
References
https://reproductiverights.org/our-issues
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/legal/history_1.shtml
https://www.guttmacher.org/journals/psrh/2003/01/public-health-impact-legal-abortion-30-years-later
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/10/how-many-women-die-illegal-abortions/572638/
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/preventing-unsafe-abortion
http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/women%E2%80%99s-reproductive-rights-are-human-rights
