On June 24, a decision unthinkable for many materialized for our neighbors to the south. By invalidating the historic judgment of Roe v. wade, the Supreme Court of the United States came to give a blow to the ax in the rights of the women. This deplorable setback has concrete and immediate consequences for millions of people in the United States and threatens to be felt far beyond American borders.
As a feminist organization that defends sexual and reproductive rights in Quebec and elsewhere in the world, we are concerned about this attack, which will have the effect of aggravating injustices and inequalities. The Supreme Court’s decision risks having a ripple effect that will jeopardize the progress made in recent years in several countries, such as in Colombia, which has just decriminalized abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy after a long struggle led by Colombian women.
We are concerned that this trend is leading to cuts in funding for sexual and reproductive health services that include abortion and causing some wealthy countries to suspend international aid to these essential programs for the health of women and girls.
The impact of the invalidation of Roe v. wade also threatens to increase discrimination and inequality. This new reality means that women and teenage girls in the United States will now have to travel thousands of miles and incur considerable expense to safely terminate unwanted pregnancies. Some of them might not have access to information on existing services in neighboring states or even the financial means to access them. Will they be able to entrust their children to those around them during their trip? Will they be able to miss days of work? Some will be able to afford to go after their decision, others not.
Whether it is based on their income, education, occupation, ethnic origin, religion or sexual orientation, they will not have the same opportunities to obtain the care they want. Only the wealthiest women will be able to access a safe abortion across state or even country borders; the others will do it clandestinely or in insecurity, sometimes at the risk of their lives.
Canada is not immune to this type of attack on fundamental rights. Furthermore, although abortion is decriminalized there, access to abortion-related care is unequal from one province to another, from one city to another. Women from the most vulnerable communities and those living in rural and remote areas face barriers to accessing it.
Some regions have only one center offering abortion care and, in some cases, services are only offered one day a week. People without status or refugees, indigenous people and people of different gender identity or sexual orientation often have more difficulty accessing abortion care and are often stigmatized when they seek it.
Moreover, several studies and data show that restrictive laws do not reduce the number of abortions. They continue to take place, but in a less safe way, to the detriment, too often, of the lives of the people who resort to them. According to the WHO, 295,000 women die each year from unsafe abortions. In low- and middle-income countries, complications during pregnancy or childbirth are one of the leading causes of death for young girls aged 15 to 19.
Forcing women and adolescent girls to carry a pregnancy to term can also have significant social and economic consequences, such as withdrawing them from school, the labor market or plunging them into extreme poverty. Faced with this, Oxfam-Québec and other organizations are supporting local partners in strengthening access to reproductive health care and to information allowing informed choices.
The struggle for access to sexual and reproductive health care requires constant vigilance. We must remain mobilized in the face of the risks of backsliding on human rights. We must stand in solidarity with all organizations that defend the right of women to make their own decisions about their bodies and their future. We must advocate for all people, everywhere in the world, to be free to choose and obtain abortion care in a dignified and safe manner, free from intimidation, judgment and violence.