And still many countries across the world refuse to provide basic healthcare and amendment in prevailing laws to save lives
Credit: Amnesty International
We all know about Savita Halappanavar's death that called attention to archaic laws in Ireland over abortion laws. Savita's death at University Hospital in Galway brought focus on the Republic of Ireland's abortion laws and thereby gross violation of human rights. Post a Supreme Court ruling in 1992, known as the X case, abortion had been constitutionally available in the Republic of Ireland. But after much international outrage, the laws were amended a tad too late.
And bringing the focus to abortion laws, Amnesty International has been running several campaigns to bring focus to human rights violations — an individuals rights to his/her own body. Recently, they launched #MyBodyMyRights campaign which focuses on laws and practices that prevent individuals from making personal choices that affect their health and well-being. Amnesty's tagline for the campaign reads, "Being able to make our own decisions about our health, body and sexual life is a basic human right. Yet all over the world, many of us are persecuted for making these choices – or prevented from doing so at all."
Check out Amnesty's poster campaign — Its real, powerful and painful!
The UN’s report on Ireland has recommended that the country’s law should be revised to provide for additional exceptions in cases of rape, incest, serious risks to the health of the mother, or fatal fetal abnormality.
Picture credit: Amnesty International
Picture credit: Amnesty International
Picture credit: Amnesty International
Picture credit: Amnesty International
Picture credit: Amnesty International
Picture credit: Amnesty International
Picture credit: Amnesty International
And this is one story. There are hundreds and thousands of children, women and marginalised groups struggling with abuse and an incumbent law system that places them in risk category instead of helping them. It is time the society and governments lend them a helping hand to create an environment that respects human life and its dignity.
The United Nations has long taken the stance that countries should not deprive women of their reproductive options. Previous UN reports have urged countries around the world to remove their unnecessary barriers to abortion, pointing out that thousands of young, poor women in developing nations are dying because of illegal abortion procedures in unsafe conditions including India.
Read full text of El Salvador President Sánchez Cerén's letter seeking public support for ending ban on abortion in the country :
Every year, thousands of women and girls are denied their human rights by El Salvador’s total ban on abortion. The Salvadoran government is ultimately responsible for the resulting deaths of women and girls, and for the thousands whose human rights have been violated by the ban.
The ban makes it a crime for women and girls to have an abortion, and for anyone to help them have one.
Under the abortion ban, women and girls found guilty of terminating their pregnancies face jail sentences of up to eight years. Those who have miscarriages may be charged with aggravated homicide and jailed for up to 50 years, because they too are suspected of having clandestine abortions. Convictions are often based on weak evidence, following flawed trials.
The effects of the ban are nothing less than institutionalized violence against women and girls, and amount to torture – a conclusion backed by the UN.
El Salvador’s total ban on abortion is a serious human rights violation and must be urgently repealed.
I urge you to: Decriminalize abortion: eliminate all punitive measures for women and girls seeking an abortion, as well as for the health care providers and others who help them to have one.
Immediately and unconditionally release all women and girls who have been imprisoned for having abortions or miscarriages. This includes those convicted of abortion, homicide and aggravated homicide.
Ensure access to safe and legal abortion for all women and girls. As a minimum, ensure access in cases of rape or incest, where the woman’s health or life is at risk, and where the foetus is unlikely to survive.
Guarantee access to modern contraceptive information and services, and provide comprehensive sexuality education.
Yours sincerely,
Sánchez Cerén
Sign the movement here: #MyBodyMyRights
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