Anti-abortion protesters stand in front of the US Supreme Court building on May 23. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
As soon as Kenyan housewife Anne found out she was pregnant last September, she knew it couldn’t be a child.
For years, the 27-year-old has been a victim of domestic violence: her husband routinely beat her, denied her money to feed their three children, and had sex with other women.
Anne, whose name has been changed to protect the identities of her children, did not want to bring another child into her world of violence and poverty, a close friend told Thomson Reuters.
But in a country where access to abortion is severely restricted by law, and those undergoing the procedure are stigmatized, Anne was forced to secretly take abortion pills from an unregistered pharmacist. Days later, she was dead.
“I heard screams coming from her house in the middle of the night and found her lying on the ground bleeding,” said one of Anne’s friends, who also lives in Korogocho, an informal village in northeastern Nairobi, and asked not to be named.
“We took her to the hospital, but she had a long queue and she died while we were waiting for treatment,” the friend said.
As the US Supreme Court is ready to overturn Rowe’s remarkable ruling against Wade, which legalizes abortion across the country, abortion rights activists from Africa to Latin America are warning of potentially devastating consequences.
They say the Conservative majority must consider the impact of global abortion measures, from deaths like Anne’s in Kenya and women wrongly imprisoned for miscarriages in El Salvador to prosecuting abortion advocates. in Poland.
“My message to the judges of the US Supreme Court is that they will never stop abortion. “Women have had and will always have abortions, regardless of the law,” said Evelyn Opondo, senior regional director for Africa at the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR).
“All the repeal of the law is to end safe abortions. Women will turn to dangerous abortions such as those performed by charlatans in back clinics, and the poor and marginalized will be hardest hit.
Trudeau says he will defend a woman’s right to choose. If this is true, he must legitimize it
Even more worrying than the impending change in abortion rights in Washington is that of Beijing
Christian Conservatives and many Republican officials have long sought to repeal Rowe against Wade, and many Republican-led states have adopted various abortion restrictions, contrary to Rowe’s precedent in recent years.
Abortion is completely banned worldwide in 26 countries, including El Salvador, Honduras, Egypt, Madagascar and the Philippines, according to CRR.
Another 50 nations allow abortion only when a woman’s health is threatened or in cases of rape or incest, the group said.
More than three-quarters of countries have some legal penalties related to abortion, which may include lengthy prison sentences or huge fines for people who perform or help with the procedure.
Health experts say such restrictions are forcing women and girls to take desperate measures to end their unplanned pregnancies, from using coat hangers or drinking bleach to visiting back clinics run by untrained practitioners.
More than 25 million unsafe abortions are performed worldwide each year, killing about 39,000 women and girls and causing millions of others to be hospitalized with complications, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Most of these deaths are among poor women living in lower-income countries, with more than 60 percent in Africa and 30 percent in Asia, the report said.
In Kenya – where abortion is only allowed when a woman’s health or life is at risk and in cases of rape – more than 2,500 women and girls die each year from unsafe abortions, amounting to seven deaths each day, according to CRR.
A study by the Ministry of Health shows that almost half a million abortions – most of them dangerous – were performed in Kenya in 2012, with one in four women suffering from complications such as fever, sepsis, shock and organ failure.
The study also found that women and girls seeking treatment for unsuccessful abortions put additional strain on Kenya’s public health system, costing an additional $ 5 million.
“All the things we see here in Kenya, they will see in the United States if the decision is overturned,” said Nelly Muniazia, executive director of the Kenyan Reproductive Health Network.
In El Salvador, where abortion has been a crime since 1998, dozens of women have been sent to prison on charges of abortion under all circumstances – even in cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormalities or when a woman’s health is in danger.
In 2008, Cynthia Rodriguez was eight months pregnant when she went to the hospital to seek emergency care after a stillbirth. Instead, she was handcuffed to a hospital bed, arrested, convicted of aggravated murder, and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
“You are in mourning for the loss of your child and then, when you are accused of a crime you did not commit, it is really difficult,” Rodriguez said, adding that she was called a “baby killer” and was physically assaulted by other prisoners.
She was released only after serving almost 11 years.
Five other Latin American countries also have a total ban on abortion, but El Salvador has a high sentence rate and harsh prison conditions.
In the last two decades, more than 180 women have been imprisoned for abortion-related crimes, according to the Civic Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion, a non-profit organization.
“Abortion should not be criminalized,” Rodriguez said. “Every woman knows her own situation and the truth about what she went through.”
Campaigners said policies that ban or restrict access to abortion have also led to a high percentage of teenage girls who have to drop out of school due to unplanned pregnancies.
In some countries, such as Tanzania and Sierra Leone, pregnant girls and young mothers have even been banned from attending school in the past.
Policies – which not only promote stigma and shame but also lead to harassment and discrimination – can affect others, say abortion advocates.
In many countries, sexual and reproductive health clinics, as well as women’s rights activists, are targeted by right-wing groups, members of society and even the authorities.
In Poland, where abortion is only allowed in cases of rape, incest and a threat to a woman’s life, abortion rights activists also face threats, harassment and imprisonment for up to three years.
Martha Lampart, a 43-year-old lawyer and leader of Strajk Kobiet (Women’s Strike), a movement that opposes stricter abortion restrictions, said her actions in protest of Poland’s abortion law were a huge personal one. price.
“I had to leave home because my address was published and there was at least one attempt on my life,” Lampart said, adding that she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of such harassment.
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