I believe abortion should be considered a human right because childbirth is not something everyone wants, nor is it particularly safe. There are many instances in which someone may want or need an abortion, such as if the pregnancy is risky/life threatening to the parent or baby, if the parent cannot afford a child, if the pregnancy is a result of rape or if the parent simply does not want a child. I believe all of these reasons to be valid.
However, there are many people who do not believe the same thing, and my digital text piece 'And Vice Versa' was inspired by those who support or are trying to pass laws which ban abortion. While the piece itself applies to a wide range of situations, I was thinking about the abortion laws across the world when creating it. I was particularly inspired by the continuing attempts from certain states in America to ban abortion. The state of Texas has just introduced Senate Bill 8, which
The bill itself is technically more complex than that, as it
However, any bill, law or legislation that tries to restrict abortion or control women's (or anyone who may need an abortion) bodies in anyway is a danger. This is because making abortion illegal doesn't stop it. All it does is make it more dangerous. Instead of going to a proper doctor for a safe procedure, these people will try to perform abortions themselves, or have them done in incredibly dangerous circumstances. It is important to note that no one enjoys having an abortion, nor do they really want one, but many will risk their lives to have one because the alternative is much worse for them. Abortion laws do not preserve life either. In fact, they force people to have an unwanted child, who may then be born into a poor quality life. But abortion laws aren't really about "saving lives", because if they were, the same people who support abortion would be outraged by child abuse, would encourage adoption and would want to help improve the lives of every child, but they don't. The outrage directed at abortion and the passion involved in the "pro-life" movement disappears as soon as the child is born. This is because these laws are about controlling a woman's body.
The state of Georgia is also trying to introduce a law which places further restrictions on abortions, requiring
This law doesn't explicitly ban abortion, but it does make it harder to get one. It also attempts to guilt and/or scare the parent into cancelling the procedure.
Furthermore, the vast majority of the government of Georgia is male. That means that the people who are introducing these restrictions have never and will probably never experience pregnancy first hand. they are not the ones who are at risk of pregnancy and so they should not be the ones making these laws, because these issues do not concern them.
My text piece 'And Vice Versa' aims to highlight this fact, and points out that men should not be making laws about women's bodies, and women should not be making laws about men's bodies.
However, while some places are trying to reinstate restrictions on abortion, others have begun to decriminalise the procedure. For example, abortion finally became lawful in Northern Ireland in October 2019. This progress is, of course, good news, but it was a long time coming and should've happened much earlier.
Below is a map showing where abortion is legal, restricted and banned across the world. Unfortunately, there are still many countries who haven't followed Northern Ireland's lead. There are still way too many countries where abortion is outright banned or only available in extreme emergencies. This means that there are still lots of countries where women* do not have true freedom. These women are unable to terminate pregnancies caused by rape, meaning they have to literally carry their trauma with them. They are unable to terminate a life-threatening pregnancy or one that they cannot afford. They are unable to have the choice whether they want a child or not. Everyone should be able to consent to sex without being forced to consent to pregnancy as well.
*I use the term women, but am aware that not all who require abortions identify as women.
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