A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #337 - The right to abortion, an incessant feminist fight (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Access to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) or maintaining 
this access have, in recent years, been at the heart of numerous 
feminist mobilizations around the world. We have seen this in Latin 
America, in Poland... and now in the United States. Nothing surprising 
in this, since women claim through this means and that of contraception 
the right to give birth or not according to their choice, while the 
supporters of the capitalist and patriarchal system continue to want to 
control their sexuality and use their procreative capacities for 
political, economic or military purposes.

On June 24, 2022, we could read in the French press findings such as: 
"Access to abortion remains very unequal around the world (1). While one 
in four pregnancies ends in abortion, more than 40% of women of 
childbearing age live in states with restrictive laws.»
On June 24, 2022, in fact, the Supreme Court in the United States buried 
the so-called Roe vs Wade decision (dating from 1973), on which a right 
to abortion was based which applied to the entire country. Since the 
Dobbs ruling, each state in the Union can adopt its own legislation on 
this issue, and therefore possibly decide to make abortion illegal.
Such a change has therefore highlighted the fragility of access to 
abortion, and sparked many media reports on it.
Certainly, a number of states have legalized abortion in recent years: 
Ireland in 2018, New Zealand and Argentina in 2020, Thailand in 2021, 
Colombia and Benin in 2022, Mexico in 2023... Only around twenty 
countries still completely prohibit it - especially in Africa (for 
example Egypt, Senegal, Madagascar or Mauritania) and in Latin America 
(Suriname, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, etc.) . In Europe, abortion 
is completely prohibited only in Malta, Andorra and the Vatican.
But the decision of the US Supreme Court was all the more striking 
because it echoed another fairly recent one, taken by the Constitutional 
Court in Poland in October 2020. Abortion then became almost illegal in 
this country. country, because this high authority (closely controlled 
by the conservative party PiS) removed the possibility of resorting to 
it in the event of fetal malformation. Abortion remains authorized in 
cases of rape, incest, or if the pregnancy presents a danger to the 
mother... but malformation of the fetus was the criterion used for more 
than 95% of the 1,000 legal abortions performed each year in Poland.
Over the last two decades, around fifty states around the world have 
made their legislation less restrictive regarding abortion, but in some 
the criteria which authorize the act remain few. Thus, a woman's life 
must be in danger in Ivory Coast, Libya, South Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon, 
Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Burma, Guatemala ... And, in 
Brazil or Chile, the pregnancy must be linked to rape, be at risk for 
the mother or the fetus must have a serious malformation.
And then, in a state like Italy, abortion is made very difficult to 
access by the conscientious objection that gynecologists very often use: 
in 2019, according to the Ministry of Health, 67% of they refused to 
perform an abortion there.
Finally, in other countries where abortion is legalized, the cost of the 
medical procedure, distorted preliminary interviews or compulsory 
waiting periods constitute all obstacles to its implementation.

Winning the right to abortion, an issue for women
Access to abortion is an old feminist fight of international importance 
because, with access to contraception, it helps women to have control 
over their bodies, and because the approximately 25 million "Dangerous 
abortions (2)" practiced every year on Earth - mainly in developing 
countries (3) - make it the third cause of maternal mortality. Women who 
abort in such conditions generally do not have the means to travel 
abroad or seek treatment in a private establishment.
Also the feminist coordinations which have emerged in many countries 
over the last eight years, in the wake of the Argentine movement Ni Una 
Menos ("Not one less"), are mainly mobilized on both access against 
abortion and against violence against women.
The choice to make September 28 the Day for the Right to Abortion for 
Women in Latin America and the Caribbean dates back to 1990 (it was made 
during the fifth Latin American Feminist Meetings).
As for the feminist coordination called Czarny Protest ("Black 
Protest"), it appeared in Poland in 2016: on October 3 (called "Black 
Monday") of that year, between 100,000 and 200,000 women went on strike 
and demonstrated in 147 cities against the restriction of the right to 
abortion sought by the government. This mobilization continued in the 
following years, and especially after abortion was declared 
unconstitutional: 430,000 people demonstrated in 410 cities on October 
28, 2020, and 100,000 during the Great March to Warsaw on the 30th. , to 
denounce the power, but also the Catholic hierarchy, particularly 
powerful and reactionary in Poland. And, because it attacked patriarchal 
institutions by demanding both a secular state and the suppression of 
religious education in schools, Czarny Protest faced fierce repression (4).
Since then, informal abortion support networks have multiplied in 
Poland, feminist NGOs are overwhelmed by requests (5), and the Czech 
Republic has become a very frequent destination for abortion, due to the 
fact that the cost of abortion The act is quite moderate (the equivalent 
of EUR420 on average). However, surveys of the Polish population 
indicate that two-thirds of them are now in favor of legalizing abortion 
up to the twelfth week of pregnancy.

Banning the right to abortion, a challenge for those in power
The demographic situation of a country can lead its leaders to consider 
the right to abortion for women as an annoying obstacle in relation to 
their economic or even military objectives; it can encourage them to 
limit it, or even make it disappear - just like contraception or other 
measures curbing their current pronatalist policies (see box). And, of 
course, the capitalist and patriarchal system needs generational renewal 
in order to satisfy its labor needs for its gigantic global market.
In Russia, the speeches that leaders have been making on the family 
since last fall are enlightening (6). To encourage women to leave the 
work they do outside the home and to have children, because the 
population is decreasing (7), they highlight Russian "traditional 
values", but also attack the right to 'Abortion.
This right, which was acquired in 1920, has been maintained until now, 
despite some temporary prohibitions. But last summer the Minister of 
Health, Mikhail Mourashko, spoke of "a perverse trend (...) according to 
which women should first receive an education, have a career and ensure 
their material well-being before 'taking care of having children' - and 
he called for stricter control over the sale of molecules allowing 
medical abortions to be carried out. At the beginning of November, it 
was Vladimir Putin himself who, during a meeting with members of "civil 
society", mentioned abortion as "an acute problem" in relation to the 
demographic situation - which is a central theme for him since he came 
to power in 2000.
The Duma health committee, immediately afterwards, adopted 
recommendations aimed at restricting the right to abortion: reduction of 
the legal period from twelve to eight weeks; consent required from 
husband if woman is married; extension of the mandatory reflection 
period, with the equally obligatory condition of "listening to the fetal 
heartbeat"...
The regions of Mordovia, Tver and Kaliningrad have banned "incitement to 
abortion" and have made liable to fines; and the Federation Council, the 
upper house of the Russian Parliament, proposed that a law extend the 
measure to the entire country.
In other regions (such as Crimea), dozens of private clinics have given 
up "on their own" - according to the authorities - from performing 
abortions to "make their contribution to the demographic edifice". The 
President of the Duma immediately tabled a bill which, if passed, would 
oblige all private clinics on Russian territory to do the same. And, 
according to testimonies from pregnant women, doctors in public 
hospitals are increasingly seeking to dissuade women from having an 
abortion.
Of course, the war in Ukraine undoubtedly contributes to worsening the 
demographic situation, by sending millions of men of childbearing age to 
the front or into exile; but it is also the defense of the homeland 
which incites the Russian power to attack the right to abortion. 
According to Le Monde, posters from an Orthodox foundation can be found 
in several Russian cities on which a fetus (sic!) says to a soldier: 
"Defend me now, I will defend you later.» Various personalities are 
playing this "family-fatherland" card - and MP Valery Seleznev proposed, 
in mid-November, that imprisoned women could have special permission to 
procreate... with the key being their release if they become pregnant.

Access to abortion as an electoral asset
As the November 2024 presidential election in the United States looms, 
the suppression of the constitutional right to abortion clearly divides 
the Republican and Democratic camps. Because the Republican candidates 
promise to further restrict this right, while the Democratic candidates 
have made it their hobby horse, after noting that it constitutes the 
first criterion of choice in this election for a growing part of the 
electorate (8).
It must be said that the possibility of abortion in the United States 
has deteriorated significantly: 14 states out of 50 have to date 
completely abolished the right to abortion; 6 others radically restrict 
it, often from six weeks of pregnancy. And the Supreme Court, with a 
conservative majority, must decide before June 2024 on the subject of 
the abortion pill, which is used for more than half of abortions and 
whose prescription had been made easier in recent years (9).
Most of the local American decision-makers who, for the past year, have 
sought to completely ban access to abortion are men from the Republican 
Party (1,300 out of just under 1,600); but two thirds of the population 
are in favor of maintaining this right, and women are particularly 
determined to defend it with their vote. Since the Roe vs. Wade 
decision, the Republicans have lost in every election where access to 
abortion has been a question; the Democratic Party takes advantage of 
it, aware that this issue acts like a slow poison on the Republican 
Party by delivering it to its most extremist current. We also see 
Democratic figures advocating the adoption at the federal level of a law 
guaranteeing the right to abortion - like the 13 states (including 
Ohio[10]) and the District of Columbia which do so. did at their level.

President Macron therefore hardly innovated when he announced in France, 
on October 29, 2023, that a draft constitutional law aimed at protecting 
abortion would be presented to the Council of Ministers before the end 
of 2023 (11).
Macron committed on March 8, 2022, during the "controversial" tribute to 
Gisèle Halimi, to "change our Constitution in order to enshrine the 
freedom of women to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy". Then 
the Chamber of Deputies voted by an overwhelming majority, in November, 
for a bill "constitutionalizing" abortion; and, in February 2023, the 
Senate approved this proposal by a narrow majority, but after replacing 
the "right" of women to resort to abortion with the word "freedom".
To bring this constitutional revision to fruition, Macron chose the path 
of the two Chambers meeting in Congress in Versailles (this Congress 
being scheduled for March 5, according to the former Minister of 
Solidarity and Families Combe), rather than that of the referendum: he 
wants to avoid offering a platform to opponents of abortion (12) and 
thinks it will be easier to win with this process. The constitutional 
revision must, however, be approved by three-fifths of parliamentarians. 
However, if in the National Assembly the presidential majority and the 
left should logically support it, in the Senate it is less obvious since 
the LR group is in the majority there... and then the position of the 
National Rally remains unknown. Marine Le Pen is so unsure of her troops 
that she ended up presenting an amendment in her name alone, which 
defends... the current law on abortion that she previously contested (13).
Furthermore, during his press conference on January 16, 2024, Macron 
promised a "major fight plan" against "male and female" infertility 
(describing it as a "scourge" and "taboo of the century") in the 
perspective of a "demographic rearmament" of France, whose birth rate is 
falling.

The evolution of government decisions or speeches concerning abortion, 
here and there, highlights, as we can see, a reality: this hard-won 
right is no more acquired than any other. We must therefore continue to 
mobilize everywhere to defend it.

Vanina

Notes
1. "Right to abortion: in which countries is it prohibited, restricted 
or threatened?"», Le Monde, June 24, 2022.
2. The WHO defines them as acts carried out "by people who do not have 
adequate qualifications or taking place in an environment that does not 
comply with minimum medical standards, or in both circumstances ".
3. According to Amnesty International, "access to modern contraceptive 
methods, comprehensive sexuality education and safe and legal abortion 
services reduces the abortion rate" - read "Key facts on abortion» on 
his site.
4. 79 arrests were violently carried out on October 25, 2020 during 
actions carried out against the Catholic Church, which is quite rare in 
Western Europe.
5. "One year after the virtual ban on abortion in Poland, "abortion 
without borders" is thriving", Le Monde, November 1, 2021.
6. "In Russia, the right to abortion attacked and curtailed background 
of demographic decline", Le Monde, November 28, 2023.
7. According to the statistical agency Rosstat, Russia has fewer 
inhabitants, including annexed Crimea, than in 1999.
8. "Abortion: "In the United States United, one year after Dobbs, this 
right remains a crucial issue in the 2024 presidential election," Le 
Monde, July 4, 2023.
9. The ban on this pill would open the way to that of medications such 
as hormonal treatments, contraceptives or vaccines, and other 
restrictions on individual freedoms, such as civil rights.
10. "The right to abortion, the winning electoral standard of American 
Democrats", Le Monde, November 8, 2023.
11. "Emmanuel Macron initiates the process aimed at including abortion 
in the Constitution", Le Monde, 30 October 2023.
12. On their intense propaganda activity aimed at young people via 
social networks, read "Disinformation from opponents of abortion 
threatens the right to abortion, warns the Women's Foundation", 
Franceinfo, January 18, 2024 13.
Only 38 RN deputies out of a total of 89 voted for the inclusion of 
abortion in the Constitution, during the first vote in the Assembly. "On 
abortion, Marine Le Pen changes position and proposes to 
constitutionalize the Veil law", Le Monde, November 22, 2022.

<quote>New dilemma for the Chinese authorities: too many old people and 
not enough young people!
China lost 2 million inhabitants in 2023: it has "only" 1.41 billion 
inhabitants on its continental territory, and, according to the UN, 
India is now the most populous country in the world (1). The slowdown in 
China's birth rate is due to several reasons: the high cost of 
education; a lack of confidence in the economic future; a growing 
distrust of the institution of marriage (a necessary step to have 
children); higher education that a growing number of women are doing and 
which is delaying the age of first pregnancy.
The Chinese government is striving to limit demographic decline through 
(modest) family allowances, through (strong) communication in favor of 
the birth rate... and - since 2021 - through the authorization given to 
all couples to have three children . China is indeed faced with the 
aging of its population, which can slow down the country's economic 
growth and call into question its ability to provide for the needs of 
its inhabitants. In addition, the tradition of caring for elderly 
parents is more respected in Chinese society than in Western societies; 
but as a couple is generally made up of two adults and only children, 
they have a lot to do if their four elderly parents are dependent on them.

1. "China affected by a drop in its population for the second 
consecutive year", Le Monde, January 17, 2024.

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