No law can end abortions, however severe its restrictions and however harsh its penalties. Each day almost 70,000 unsafe abortions are carried out around the world, and they are vastly more likely to happen in countries with strict laws. What such legislation does do is force some women to continue pregnancies against their wishes, while risking the lives and wellbeing of others. Women in the US have seen their ability to terminate pregnancies dismantled piece by piece. Now states are racing to outlaw or dramatically curb abortions with extreme and unconstitutional bills. The aim is to directly challenge Roe v Wade, the US supreme court ruling that established that abortion is legal before the foetus is viable outside the womb, at around 24 weeks. Last Tuesday, the governor of Georgia signed a bill essentially banning abortions after six weeks from 2020. Some described it as a sign that men who wish to control women’s bodies have no idea of how they actually work. More likely, those who pushed hardest for the change understand all too well that many women will not know they are pregnant until it is too late.
Five other states have signed similar bills; several more are considering them. (Others have introduced more incremental curbs.) The Alabama senate will this week consider a near-total ban on abortion – with prison sentences of up to 99 years for doctors – which Republicans initially tried to sneak through without even a vote. The state’s lieutenant governor said he believes Roe v Wade will be overturned thanks to Donald Trump’s appointment of conservative jurists.
Mr Trump’s influence has also harmed the reproductive rights of women far from US shores thanks to the reintroduction and expansion of the global gag rule, which bars foreign NGOs receiving US funding from providing legal abortion services or referrals even if they are funded by other sources. Studies suggest it increased abortions in some places by reducing support for family planning. Meanwhile, the American religious right is funding and encouraging anti-abortion campaigns overseas. It is not a coincidence that attempts to roll back women’s rights are thriving as rightwing populism surges. In Italy, anti-abortion campaigners explicitly link the issue to raising low birth rates in order to curb immigration.
When tough laws are introduced, women will end up being criminalised, even if the initial focus is on practitioners. Ecuador’s abortion ban is longstanding, but in the last decade, prosecutions of women have escalated sharply. Women have been imprisoned after miscarriages. In the US itself, women – predominantly poorer women and those of colour – have already been prosecuted and jailed for harming foetuses under existing laws.
At this grim time there are signs of hope. New York state has sought to bolster abortion rights this year. Chile somewhat eased its ban in 2017. And last year’s landslide vote in favour of repealing Ireland’s near-total ban resonated worldwide. Yet women in Northern Ireland are no closer to enjoying the same rights as those elsewhere in the UK, even though the supreme court believes the ban there incompatible with human rights legislation. They can now access free abortion care in England, but too much confusion endures and women in abusive relationships, for example, may not be able to travel. Because this is a devolved issue, the right of women to control their own bodies is yet another casualty of the collapse of power-sharing. Northern Ireland’s politicians must find a way to work together again. When they do, overturning this cruel ban must be a priority.
