Backstreet baby

Globally, between 22,000 and 31,000 women and girls die because of unsafe abortions each year. Abortions have become illegal in various countries. One country in particular that stands out with this practice is Nigeria. With about 1.8 to 2.7 million abortions occurring each year, the cause of Nigeria’s law to ban abortions has resulted in more serious cases for women than for some. As there has been a rise in backstreet abortions, done by unskilled individuals with hardly any experience or certification to do so. Despite being an unsafe activity, it has also been considered positively and negatively. The stigma of having an abortion can be unbearable and quite embarrassing for the residents of Nigeria due to the culture and religious beliefs of the country. However, having backstreet abortion clinics have been almost lifesaving due to severe situations such as rape. Although, this all comes at a cost, financially and of life and death. Financially the backstreet abortions do not come at a reasonable price in Nigeria, as many struggle to make the payment for terminating their pregnancy. The cheaper the clinics are the less care doctors/nurses have for their patients, and lack of proper tools are used for the procedure. Additionally, the further a woman is in her pregnancy, the more expensive the cost is. One of the major concerns for going ahead with this procedure is three years to a life sentence in jail. This then causes many women to keep their pregnancy hidden and to find extreme ways for an abortion, resulting in more women being in painful conditions or leading to death. With the knowledge and awareness of these incidents, it is important to bring awareness to the Nigerian government to revisit their laws on abortion so women have a choice on what they want to do with their bodies. Questions to raise are ‘Have the laws been effective in reducing the number of abortions, or have they increased the mortality rate for women?’ And ‘what laws can be implemented to ensure the safety of a woman having an abortion due to situations such as ‘rape?’

Roe V. Wade

Like Nigeria and many other countries such as Poland, Kenya, Colombia etc., the United States have also adopted this law. A report from the World Health Organization (WHO) has explained that ‘around seventy-three million abortions occur globally’, and with Roe V. Wade now in action, what will this look like for the future of women’s rights? The recent findings of the complications of unsafe abortions propose an important question to ask and considerably argue for the overturn of Roe V. Wade. A landmark decision was made in 1973 by the US Supreme Court. Following the event of Jane Roe and her fight with Henry Wade for an abortion after being raped at 25 years old, which she had won after being forced to conceive her child. After this ruling, the terms of abortion followed a regulatory system of trimesters; access to abortion in the first three months of pregnancy, some governmental regulation in the second trimester, and prohibition of abortion in the last trimester unless it is to save a woman’s life. ‘92{ef8bf1e8d82892e9eb813f36f9fd1f544aac5ccf3488e9a71f89f86e05138f3c} of women have an abortion in the first trimester’ which has been reported by the Center for Disease Control. This percentage of women, who largely include teenagers and young adults, will be greatly affected. This is because most women in these age groups are still in education and, with being denied an abortion, do not have the financial capability to cover their living as an individual, and will be even more difficult to do so for a child despite having financial government aid which tends to ‘not be enough’. This then has an egregious effect on a woman’s mental and physical health. A serious weakness of the overturned law of Roe V. Wade is that we see a very narrow focus.  One major drawback of this approach is that it does not take into consideration one of the major elements of discovering pregnancy. Which is the time scale of a woman’s period. This can range from 21 to 40 days. Stress and other factors, such as a change in weight and a shift in sleep patterns, can also be the reason for missed periods. Therefore, the trajectory of the law is not linear, as gaps and other factors need to be considered.

Born of Violence

The existing underlying issues with not allowing abortion after rape creates discomfort towards the choices of the government. Uncovering the traumatic effects of a child being born from rape which is not nearly enough discussed, highlights the inconsideration that the law has for a woman and her child’s mental and physical health. There are 32,000 births that occur each year due to rape in the U.S., with less than half of babies surviving or being taken care of by the mother. Many women who are victims of rape will fall into depression and will find difficulty in developing a loving relationship with their child which will often result in abuse or neglect. Many children born of rape will be affected psychologically, the feeling of guilt and embarrassment will only have a negative impact on the child’s mental health over the years. The anxiety that women develop from physically seeing their child partially appear as the abuser usually leads to a conflict of wanting to love or hate their baby. These reports suggest that it is important to keep in mind the underrepresented women when creating laws for ‘all’ women.  

The monopoly effects

Has Roe V. Wade opened the doors for others to acquire this law? Most certainly, 24 countries globally have banned abortion, and 23 states have banned abortion or are going into effect in the US. All states permit a woman to terminate her pregnancy under conditions of saving a woman’s life. However, depending on how far they are in their trimesters, some states do not allow for abortion. Other reasons why some states may authorize this is if the woman’s pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, if they are financially incapable of doing so if the child will be born with abnormalities and if there is a risk to the woman’s physical or mental health. These are an exception in very few states in the US. Some states have a few exceptions, and others are limited to one. Roe V. Wade has opened the doors for all states to go ahead with this. Texas has made abortion illegal after 6 weeks, and Oklahoma has banned abortion even earlier. This is due to researchers discovering a foetal heart rate at just six weeks, which can cause pain to the embryo during the process of abortion. However, this does not consider the 90 per cent of women who choose to abort after 6 weeks which is typically the time when women choose to. Although extensive research has been carried out, the data is still rather controversial as there is no agreement that the fetal heart rate is accurate. This case brings similar concerns as the brain drain as people will be more likely to travel or move to countries/states that permit abortion. Causing towns to be more congested, an increase in homelessness and more pressure on doctors carrying out these procedures. This can also affect the doctors residing in locations where abortion is banned as some would move elsewhere to avoid being sued or face imprisonment, causing a decline in the healthcare system as there would not be as many doctors in those countries/states and a setback in careers.

Save the last Race

The systematic racism in the healthcare system does not go unnoticed. With a history of unfulfilled education on the black woman’s body has shown to be quite shocking. With long lasting effects on black and brown women due to the lack of knowledge that doctors are given is quite terrifying, to say the least. As black women have the highest percentage of women who seek an abortion, this raises the topic of race. As we all dissect Roe V. Wade, we start unveiling some disturbing factors from this case. Where we see Women’s injustice, but also black women’s injustice. Black women lose their lives during childbirth at a higher rate than white women. Black women are 3 times more likely to die from childbirth than white women, as the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reports. This is mainly due to the lack of variation in quality healthcare, as black women typically receive different treatment and generally have access to lower quality services, especially in less developed countries. The ideology of ‘black women are strong’ is a racial theory that black women are able to take on a great amount of pain, internally and physically beyond the ‘norm’, which is very disruptive when it comes to healthcare, as there is a lack of communication between doctors and patients, internalized pain so doctors are not able to treat their patients fully, and are less attentive and caring when it comes to a black woman as well as often being dismissed when mentioning their symptoms. This is even more of a concern if the woman is in an even lower socioeconomic bracket, as doctors will discriminate against her depending on their insurance plans. This stems from the racial issue within institutions that have been carried out through generations that still affect black women today, therefore, prohibiting abortion is more likely to lead to more deaths within the black community than if abortion was prohibited. Countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, and India, with most of their population being black and brown, bring concern to the treatment of women who choose to terminate their pregnancies.

HIV doesn’t save me

The existing accounts against the legality of abortion have failed to resolve the contradiction between the exception for an abortion which is to be carried out to save a woman’s life, and HIV, which is the leading cause of death. According to reports from the World Health Organization (WHO), There are about 83,000 in Nigeria, 310,000 in South Africa and 11.700 women in India who are pregnant and living with a deadly virus. The health effects of a child being born with HIV should be counteracted with prevention as it is better than cure, not to mention the number of women who suffer from aids in countries where it’s almost a taboo to have it and want to have a child they would most likely want to have an abortion to save the child’s life or theirs. This also raises concern about the number of women who die during pregnancy due to having HIV or having it progress during childbirth. Not having access to abortion can increase the serious complications that HIV brings.

The underlying concern with the punishment towards abortion is that women and the individuals carrying out the procedure will be convicted. However, the partner of the woman would not, this brings attention to many gaps in the law, especially the ones that I have highlighted throughout. In some cases, it would be the male’s decision to abort the child as well. Considering the physical effects of the women post-abortion, being imprisoned draws concern to their health as they would not receive the right treatments as, in many cases, women do not receive pre and post-abortion treatment.

This conversation brings attention to the issue of gender equality. In this text, we’ve reviewed the unfair disadvantages that women are allocated with after the ban on abortion. Perhaps the most serious disadvantage of this method is that women do not have a say. Like Jane Roe, women are not given the chance to save themselves or their children, even in the most severe life-threatening situations, a woman’s health is still not considered. Black and brown women will continue to suffer at the hands of the unfair laws implicated by a patriarchal government that attains a lack of understanding of a woman’s body and is stagnant with improving the racial disparities within the system.