Category: International Facts/Quotes

Pro-Choice author Christina Zampas writes about countries where abortion is illegal:

“Governments often hide behind the veil of low maternal mortality and morbidity rates to continue to justify restrictive [abortion] laws, even in the face of concrete cases that reflect the severe impact of such laws.”

Christina Zampas “Legal and Political Discourses on Women’s Right to Abortion” in Sylvia De Zordo, Joanna Mishtal and Lorena Anton, eds. A Fragmented Landscape: Abortion Governance and Protest Logics in Europe (New York: Berghahn, 2017) 33

She tacitly admits that some countries where abortion is legal have low maternal mortality and morbidity rates, meaning few women are killed or injured by illegal abortions in these nations.

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Indian writer and researcher Ashish Bose writes:

“… Very often doctors show utter disregard for medical ethics. They know very well that through ultrasonography it is not possible to determine the sex of the foetus within 12 weeks of conception and yet they conduct these tests and indicate the results (invariably “it is a girl”).

The doctors know that it is just speculation and not scientific observation. In fact, we have come across reports of cases when after abortion it was found that the foetus was male, much to the agony of the parents.”

Ashish Bose “Female Foeticide: A Civilizational Collapse” in

Tulsi Patel Sex–Selective Abortion in India: Gender, Society and New Reproductive Technologies (New Delhi, India: Sage Publications, 2007) 83

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Reporter Malcolm Moore wrote in 2013:

“There are more than 13 million abortions a year, or 1,500 an hour, in China…”

Malcolm Moore “336 million abortions under China’s one-child policy” The Telegraph 15 March 2013

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Indian researcher Ashish Bose wrote about the situation in India:

“We find that many women themselves are interested in knowing the sex of the unborn child and they do not see any moral problem in undergoing these tests conducted by doctors: it is like getting blood tests for malarial parasites.

And second, most women have an inherent son complex. They know for certain that their status – in the eyes of their family, extended family, community and the village as a whole – will go up with the arrival of a son.

Gifts will flow in, there will be celebrations and relatives from far and near will call on them. On the other hand, if they give birth to a daughter, there is general gloom, no celebration, no gifts and the image of the woman suffers badly.”

Ashish Bose “Female Foeticide: A Civilizational Collapse” in Tulsi Patel Sex-Selective Abortion in India: Gender, Society and New Reproductive Technologies (New Delhi, India: Sage Publications, 2007) 82

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Authors Karen Celis and Gily Coene describe abortion in Belgium:

“In 1990, after a long and salient political struggle, Belgium adopted a law that partially legalized abortion…

Compared to other European countries, Belgium was particularly late to legalize abortion, and it cannot claim to have established the most generous legalization of abortion.…

The 1990 abortion law permits abortions within the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy when it causes a “state of distress” for the pregnant woman…

The law, however, does not define this state of distress and leaves the appreciation of this condition up to the woman who is considering ending her pregnancy.

The law furthermore stipulates compulsory counseling on alternatives to abortion, a six-day waiting period (“period of reflection”), and a “unity of place” of the first counseling and the operation.

After 12 weeks, abortion is only allowed in cases where the pregnancy poses a serious health risk to the woman or in cases where the foetus suffers from a serious and incurable disease. In such situations, the attending doctor – after seeking a second opinion from a colleague – decides whether at least one of these conditions is fulfilled and whether the termination of a pregnancy is legal.”

Karen Celis and Gily Coene “Still a Woman’s Right? Feminist and Other Discourses in Belgium’s Abortion Struggles” Sylvia De Zordo, Joanna Mishtal and Lorena Anton, eds. A Fragmented Landscape: Abortion Governance and Protest Logics in Europe (New York: Berghahn, 2017)
123, 126

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From the pro-choice book

“The practice of conscience-based refusal (conscientious objection) arises when health professionals refuse to provide certain services based on religious, moral, or philosophical objections. Refusal to provide services…is an increasing barrier to women’s access to timely abortion services across Europe where effective regulation of the practice is scant…

The number of objecting providers appears to be increasing in some countries without effective responses to ensure access to lawful abortion services. For instance, in Italy, where there is a law requiring providers to register their refusal to provide abortions, the Ministry of Health has reported that between 2003 and 2007, the number of gynaecologists invoking conscience in their refusal to perform an abortion rose from 58.7% to 69.2%.”

Christina Zampas “Legal and Political Discourses on Women’s Right to Abortion” in Sylvia De Zordo, Joanna Mishtal and Lorena Anton, eds. A Fragmented Landscape: Abortion Governance and Protest Logics in Europe (New York: Berghahn, 2017)

Source for statistic: Italy, Ministry of Health “Report on the Ministry of Health on the Performance of the Law Containing Rules for the Social Care Of Maternity and Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy: 2006 – 07” (Rome, 2008)

34 – 35

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From an abortionist in India:

“Married women usually want to terminate the pregnancy to delay the first childbirth, space the next childbirth, get rid of a female foetus, or for career reasons. In Gujarat, many women who get married to nonresident Indians also get it done because they fear that their visas might be rejected… Unmarried girls, on the other hand, come for terminations of illegitimate pregnancy, or for visa and career reasons.”

Leela Visaria and Vimala Ramachandran Abortion in India: Ground Realities (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2007) 53

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