Despite continued American support for Roe v. Wade, state lawmakers have spent decades restricting access to abortion. It also discourages women and girls from seeking postabortion treatment for complications from unsafe abortion or other pregnancy-related complications. Access to safe and legal abortion and quality post-abortion care, especially complications resulting from unsafe abortion, helps reduce maternal mortality, prevent teenage pregnancy and unwanted pregnancies, and ensure women`s right to choose their bodies. But when governments restrict access to abortion, people are forced to resort to clandestine and unsafe abortions, especially those who cannot afford to travel or seek private treatment. Which brings us to the next point. Sexual and reproductive rights advocates and LGBTI activists are committed to raising awareness and making abortion services available, accessible and inclusive for all who need them, without discrimination for any reason. At In Our Own Voice: National Black Women`s Reproductive Justice Agenda, we believe that abortion services are part of a continuum of reproductive health care that all women should have access to as basic health care. In our survey, 76% of respondents agreed with the statement: « Health insurance should cover abortion to ensure that when a woman has to terminate her pregnancy, she can seek a licensed, high-quality health care provider. » Eight out of 10 Americans support the right to legal abortion. NARAL Pro-Choice America will continue to fight to keep abortion legal for all women, regardless of zip code or income.
We will mobilize together to repel attacks in the states and in Congress. We will help elect candidates who are committed to reproductive freedom. And we will continue to educate, inform and mobilize the public to protect and expand the fundamental human right of all people to make their own decisions about their lives. With 189 States parties, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is the only near-universal treaty that fully protects women`s human rights, including their sexual and reproductive health rights. The United States of America is one of only seven countries in the world that have not yet acceded to the Convention. Anti-choice extremists will stop at nothing. They have opened thousands of fake health « clinics » that lie to women and mislead them to prevent them from considering abortion as an option. And some anti-abortion fanatics — emboldened by the extreme rhetoric of anti-choice groups and politicians — have even murdered doctors and bombed clinics. There is evidence that abortion rates are higher in countries where access to contraceptives is limited.
Abortion rates are lower when people, including young people, have access to modern contraceptive methods, and when comprehensive sexuality education is available and there is widespread access to safe and legal abortions. The right to health enshrined in article 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women includes the right to physical autonomy and sexual and reproductive freedom of women and girls. In addition, article 16 (e) protects the right of women to decide freely and responsibly about the number and distance of their children and to have access to the information, education and resources necessary for the exercise of these rights. Acceptance of abortion is longstanding: a majority of Americans have wanted abortion to be legal for decades. Access to abortion is therefore fundamentally linked to the protection and respect of the human rights of women, girls and other pregnant women, and thus to social and gender equality. To avoid the danger of the reversal of Roe v. Wade, it`s important to look at history. Abortion, like birth control, has ancient roots in cultures around the world. When American politicians began banning abortion in the late 1800s, they drove what was a private matter underground. Abortion was circulating in secret. In this regard, the Committee supports the statement by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, that « access to reproductive rights is central to the empowerment of women and girls and the ability to make their own decisions about their bodies and lives, without discrimination, violence and coercion ». Roe v.
The Wade decision of January 22, 1973 decriminalized abortion nationwide. It gave people the right to legally access abortion across the country and freed patients from access to the health care they needed when they needed it without fear. Nearly 1 in 4 women in America will have an abortion before the age of 45. Beyond the numbers, personal stories show that abortion is an essential health service, for whatever reason. The legal right to abortion does not necessarily mean that you have access to that right. Since 1976, Congress has restricted the use of federal funds to cover the cost of abortion services for poor women. Many doctors and midwives stopped offering abortions, and some began to denounce their colleagues who were still available. Women who could not afford the few abortion providers, or who feared prosecution, sometimes tried dangerous methods of self-managed abortion.
If they had complications and went to the hospital, they could be reported to the police. We will work to restore public coverage so that every woman, regardless of income, has access to affordable and safe abortion care when she needs it. Unsafe abortions are defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as « a procedure to terminate an unwanted pregnancy performed either by people without the required skills, or in an environment that does not meet minimum medical standards, or both. » Even when we had the constitutional right to abortion, systemic racism, persistent white supremacy, and forced reproduction policies pushed access to abortion out of reach for many. Whether you can actually get an abortion depends on your race, as well as how much money you have, your health insurance status, and your zip code. For communities facing age-old systemic barriers to health care – Black, Latino and Indigenous communities; residents of rural communities; Immigrant; persons with disabilities; LGBTQ+ people; Youth; And people struggling to make ends meet – there are even greater barriers to access to abortion. Forcing a person into an unwanted pregnancy or forcing them to have an abortion in poor conditions is a violation of their human rights, including the right to privacy and physical autonomy. Those who are already marginalized are disproportionately affected by these laws, as they have no way to seek safe and legal services in another country or access private care.