(Trigger warning: Sexual assault)

While a state in the US introduced a pandora’s box with strict abortion laws that are being challenged in court by the federal government, less developed countries and even small islands are introducing progressive measures.

Abortions have always been a political hot potato in several countries and recent developments suggest the issue is far from settled.

Interestingly, abortion has never been just about abortion. It has been, from the last few years, a topic which has managed to divide populations with the possibility of little or no compromise, in majority of the cases.

The pro-abortion movement, also known as the pro-choice movement, has more to it. Laws that hinder women’s right to choose their wellbeing of reproductive health have been a hot topic of debate for years.

However, the anti-abortion laws represent more than reproductive health. These laws that prevent a woman from exercising her right to reproduce or not also further prevent her from exercising any of the basic human rights.

From not being able to choose whether or not they would like to keep a baby, this topic expands to deeper issues such as whether or not a woman would even want to indulge in sexual activities with someone.

Never again

Khwaab*, a 30-year-old girl from Peshawar, Pakistan, was married by the age of 25 and had two unplanned children by the time she turned 28. Married to an unknown man from a distant city, the young girl was strictly told that even uttering the word ‘abortion’ was equivalent to committing a sin.

She told WION that she used to linger going back to her room every night due to the fear of her husband forcing himself on her with the aim of “planting a baby” in her.

“When I conceived for the first time, I was not mentally prepared to being a human being into this world. More importantly, I was suffering from acute anemia at that time,” Khwaab remembered. “My doctor strictly told me in private that I will have to be extra careful about my health during my pregnancy. But, nobody in my family, including my own mother, listened to me.”

Khwaab went on to give birth to a pre-mature baby who was kept under observation for five weeks before her baby girl was discharged.

It was not just her own health because of which she wanted to abort the child in the first month of pregnancy, but also the hatred for her husband. Night after night, her husband forced himself on her without considering if she was getting hurt or pleasured. When she opposed, she was yelled upon, or slapped and told to shut up.

It was not just physical torture, her lack of right to choose also translated into her daily routine. From not being able to choose when to eat, what to eat, what to wear to not being able to not being able to even decide which school her children will attend — Khawaab’s basic human rights went for a toss, along with her right to choose.

“By the time of my second child, I wanted to have another child but not with that man,” Khwaab said, after leaving her husband and shifting to the UK. “Whether or not I want to reproduce is my choice, but with whom do I want to reproduce should also be my choice.”

Khwaab is not a one-off case. Hundreds of thousands of women go through this at least once in their life in several parts of the world.

Suffering for all

Women across Latin American cities have been demanding the right to abort for years. In September 2021, Mexico’s Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to criminalise abortion. In addition to this, the government also declared that the people who have been jailed for terminating pregnancies will be released.

San Marino became one of the recent European microstate where 77 per cent of locals backed the pro-choice movement, with the Interior Minister urging the Parliament to convert this into a law.

However, there are still several areas where abortion is still labelled as unconstitutional, criminal and a sin.

In Colombia, till date, abortions are allowed only in cases where the woman has been sexually assaulted/raped.

The state of Texas in the United States goes on to set one of the worst examples for women’s rights as the state has a near total ban on abortion across the state.

China, too, has sought out to reduce the number of abortions for all cases where the woman does not need to abort due to medical issues. Many believe the Chinese government took this decision to make sure the country is able to increase the birth rates.

It was China that used to forcefully make women abort a few years ago to make sure all citizens abide by the one-child policy. Now, the same government is once again using women as tools to increase the country’s population by ignoring women’s reproductive health and forcefully making them reproduce a child even if they do not wish to reproduce.

The fact that majority of the governments have, at some point, used women as tools to satisfy their country’s population, religious beliefs and societal emotions, is something that a lot of people have been protesting against for years but many leaders have failed to understand repeatedly.

Many politicians around the world have also used the topic of abortion as a distraction from several other issues. Abortion rules are just another form of discrimination with a hint of racism. When powerful politicians ran out of ways to oppress minority communities around the world, they decided it was time to bring in a new issue and restricting women from practicing their basic right to reproductive health had a safety net to it because one can attack a fetus but the fetus won’t ever hit back.

Whether or not Texas’ anti-abortion rules are rolled back is something which only time will tell. Will the Chinese government ever stop using women as tools of population control is a hope that only few possess. What one can do, till then, is raise your voices against these inhumane practices and make sure you practice what you preach.

*Name changed on demand.