Yesterday, we took a look at five scenarios that stood out to us in 2012 because it gave us a reason to smile. Today, we’d like to talk about a few instances that stood out because they were shocking.

The Death of Savita Halappanavar:

Savita should not have died, and definitely not because Irish law is based on conservative religious dogma. Her death, a truly tragic incident for her family, proved just how important it is for women to have access to the full array or reproductive healthcare. ASAP wrote a few articles on how the issues addressed during the week that followed her death, should in fact go beyond Savita’s death and lead to liberal laws around the world. Here is a link to our articles: https://asap-asia.org/blog/lessons-from-the-death-of-savita-halappanavar-a-digest/

The Death of a 16-year old girl in the Dominican Republic:

Another death that shocked the world was that of a pregnant teenager, who died from acute Leukemia after chemotherapy was delayed for 20 days, because she was pregnant. More accurately, the girl was 16 and she was only 9 weeks pregnant. Yet, the draconian law did not allow her to put her own life first. Something that stood out was the mother’s interview, “”My daughter’s life is first,” she said. “I know that (abortion) is a sin and that it goes against the law … but my daughter’s health is first.”

Sex-Selection and the Rights of A Woman to A Safe Abortion:

India, which has one of the most liberal laws in South Asia, found itself fighting hard to protect women’s right to abortion this year, when politicians and celebrities united to demand selective bans on abortion to improve the declining sex-ratio in the country. But as we argued in our blogs and in interviews published in national newspapers, sex-selection is a symptom of a much larger problem – gender discrimination. A selective ban on abortion will not actually improve the sex-ratio, but force women to seek clandestine and often unsafe abortions. Read our blogs on sex-selection here: https://asap-asia.org/blog/category/discussions-on-sex-selection/

Two Steps Back for Turkey:

This year Turkey experienced an upheaval when the Prime Minister threated to ban abortion in the country. Until recently, abortion up to ten weeks of pregnancy was no controversy in Turkey. In fact, the country has a liberal law since 1983 that allows abortions on request for women older than 18. Fortunately, women took to the streets and protested this ban. The issue took a backseat when Turkey had to turn its attention to the violence in Syria. But the matter was not publically resolved. One can only hope that the government will not renew its battle against the women of Turkey. Link to our article on the protests: https://asap-asia.org/blog/332/

Abortion becomes invisible on international forums:

This year feminists around the world had many reasons to be hopeful: we wanted abortion to be addressed at Rio+20 and then at least mentioned at the London Family Planning Summit in July. But we were in for a disappointment. At Rio+20 in June, the clause on reproductive rights was altogether dropped, setting women’s rights back by 20 years. As far as the London Family Planning Summit went, the hosts DFID and the Gates Foundation, made it clear that contraception and abortion would remained divorced as far as the meet was concerned. In fact, most talks promoted contraception as a sure means of avoiding abortion – which is not true. Unfortunately such a misconception ignores the needs of women who have no access to affordable contraception, and those who experience contraceptive failure. Here’s what we wrote after Rio+20 failed women around the world: https://asap-asia.org/blog/why-we-cannot-afford-to-shy-away-safe-abortions/

As we move on to 2013 – aware that battles like the one that rocked Turkey are being waged worldover – we can only hope that women’s needs and  rights will slowly take precedence over religious dogma and conservative views.

For the Best of 2012 see: https://asap-asia.org/blog/the-best-of-2012