Pregnancy and Choice: How access to family planning, sex education, and birth control vary globally
The 1973 historic Roe v.
Wade decision by the United States Supreme Court was recently overturned,
making headlines around the world and sending a strong message that women's
reproductive health is still highly polarised and frequently out of their
control.
It pits the US against
many other nations which consider abortion to be a human right.
The US is one of just
four nations in more than 25 years to have done away with protections for legal
abortion.
The global anti-choice
movement pays attention when anti-choice politicians attack American women's
rights, according to a recent article by MSI Asia Pacific, a reproductive
health non-profit.
But it goes beyond
abortions. The entire health of women and people who have female reproductive
systems depends on having access to good sexual reproductive services and
knowledge.
Around the world, there
are vast differences in the legal protections for all women to have control
over their bodies, including access to family planning, sex education, and
birth control.
Numerous national and
cultural characteristics, such as economy, customs, religion, and power
disparities, which have an impact on women's agencies, play a significant role
in it.
According to a United
Nations report published this week, one-third of women giving birth in poor
nations experience several of these concerns disproportionately.
According to Dr. Natalia
Kanem, executive director of the UN Population Fund, "the recurring
pregnancies we find among young moms are a clear marker that they critically
need sexual and reproductive health knowledge and services."
Abortion is not outlawed
simply by restricting access to the procedure. The World Health Organization
estimates that about 97 percent of abortions worldwide—or about 45 percent of
all abortions—take place in underdeveloped nations (WHO).
Haemorrhage, infections,
and ruptured uterus are three health hazards linked to unsafe abortions, all of
which have the potential to be fatal.
The bulk of the 810 women
who die each day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and delivery,
according to the most recent WHO statistics from 2017, are adolescent girls
from emerging nations.
This is influenced by
societal factors including gender and wealth disparities.
Service interruptions
brought on by the COVID-19 epidemic, natural catastrophes, and armed conflict
only serve to exacerbate the situation.
Leaving tens of millions
of girls open to early pregnancies and underage marriage.