Let’s get one thing straight: No woman ever wants an abortion. In fact, most women go through gruelling, uncomfortable, painful procedures (not to mention deal with negative side effects that come with said procedures) to avoid having an abortion. We have the pill, the implant, the IUD and condoms marketed to us like the shiny solution to the problem.
This week, Republicans in Alabama passed a harsh law banning abortion – with no exception for rape or incest – criminalising those who seek to have an abortion as well as the doctors who choose to perform the procedure. That sentence could be up to 99 years in prison. That means, that a rapist who gets his victim pregnant could serve less time in jail than the medically trained professional who removes the embryo that was forcefully put in the victim.
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Alabama was not the first state to enact the oppressive legislature either. Early last week, Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp signed into effect a fetal heartbeat bill. The HB 481 bill makes it illegal to receive an abortion once a heartbeat is detected in the womb, and that happens as early as six weeks into the pregnancy. For many women, that’s as soon as missing one period.
In these bills, as it stands, mentions no policies to ensure a proper standard of living for these children once they are born. Nor are there any plans in place to provide government support for mothers coerced to give birth to said children under these laws beyond the possibility of ordering fathers of the unborn to pay child support.
Criminalising abortion does not stop abortions, it makes abortion less safe.
Preventing women and girls from accessing an abortion does not mean they stop needing one. That’s why attempts to ban or restrict abortions do nothing to reduce the number of abortions, it only forces people to seek out unsafe abortions. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 22 million unsafe abortions take place each year. In contrast to a legal abortion that is carried out by a trained medical provider, unsafe abortions can have fatal consequences. So much so that unsafe abortions are the third leading cause of maternal deaths worldwide and lead to an additional five million largely preventable disabilities, according to the WHO.
All the countries where abortion is illegal
Afghanistan
Andorra
Angola
Antigua & Barbuda
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Central African Republic
Chile
Congo
Cote D’Ivoire
Dem. Rep. of Congo
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Egypt
El Salvador
Gabon
Guatemala
Guinea-Bissau
Haiti
Honduras
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Kiribati
Laos
Lebanon
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mexico
Micronesia
Myanmar
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Oman
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Philippines
San Marino
Sao Tome & Principe
Senegal
Soloman Islands
Somalia
South Sudan
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Syria
Tanzania
Timor-Leste
Tonga
Tuvalu
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
Venezula
West Bank & Gaza Strip
Yemen
All the countries where abortion is restricted
Algeria
Argentina
Bahamas
Benin
Bolivia
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Chad
Colombia
Comoros
Costa Rica
Djibouti
Ecuador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gambia
Ghana
Grenada
Guinea
Israel
Jamaica
Jordan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lesotho
Liberia
Liechtenstein
Malasyia
Maldives
Mauritius
Monaco
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Nauru
New Zealand
Niger
Northern Ireland
Pakistan
Peru
Poland
Qatar
Republic of Korea
Rwanda
Saint Kittis & Nevis
Saint Lucia
Samoa
Saudi Arabia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Swaziland
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad & Tobago
Vanuatu
Zimbabwe
Barbados
Belize
Cyprus
Fiji
Finland
Great Britain
Hong Kong
Iceland
India
Japan
Saint Vincent & Grenadines
Taiwan
Zambia
Finland
Iceland
All the countries where abortion is legal
Canada
Greenland
Russia
Uruguay
Guyana
French Guiana
Norway
Sweden
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Belarus
Ukraine
Moldova
Romania
Netherlands
Germany
Belgium
France
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Italy
Lovak Republic
Luxemburg
Austria
Slovenia
Croatia
Bosnia
Serbia
Bulgaria
Macedonia
Hungary
Turkey
Armenia
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Tajikstan
Kyrgyzstan
Mongolia
China
Nepal
Cambodia
Vietnam
Australia
South Africa
*According to the Center for Reproductive Rights
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