Safe Abortion Day has its origins in Latin America. The Catholic Church there is openly opposed to abortion.
Photo: Socrates Baltagiannis/dpa
Thanks to decades of feminist struggles, Section 219 – which banned “advertising” for abortions and criminalized doctors – is history. But access to safe abortions is by no means secured. This is what activists are reminding us of today’s Safe Abortion Day. Anyone who has to have an abortion in rural areas in Germany will quickly reach the limits of the system. According to research by Correctiv-Lokal, only 60 percent of the public hospitals surveyed with a gynecological department perform abortions. This is also due to the stigmatization in the area of reproductive rights and sexual self-determination. »Abortions are still criminalized and are considered a criminal offence. In Germany, the federal states are not fulfilling their obligation to ensure nationwide abortion care,” says a spokeswoman for the Alliance for Sexual Self-Determination about “nd”.
Over 80 campaigns, events and rallies are taking place in Germany on Safe Abortion Day. Demands at the national level include, among other things, the deletion of paragraph 218 of the Criminal Code without replacement. This still criminalizes abortions and prescribes a duty of counseling and a “waiting period” for unintentionally pregnant women, which is often perceived as discriminatory. There are also calls for unrestricted, nationwide barrier-free access to legal abortions close to home and for health insurance companies to cover the costs. For the alliance for sexual self-determination, the topicality and necessity of the day of action is clear: »The Safe Abortion Day is intended to show that these problems still exist worldwide. Regressive right-wing forces are responsible for the fact that women and people with a uterus cannot take control of their own bodies and are denied access to abortions as a medical service.«
The worldwide situation also shows that these struggles are still necessary. In some countries, especially in South America such as Mexico and Argentina, but also in Thailand and Benin, reproductive rights are being strengthened.
There were severe setbacks in other countries: in the USA, the Roe vs. Wade verdict was overturned and abortion rights were consequently abolished in many states. Abortion rights in Poland are being curtailed more and more, costing lives. And in Hungary, unintentionally pregnant women will in future have to listen to the heartbeat of the embryo. UN human rights experts have also recognized this global situation, declaring on Safe Abortion Day: »Women and girls should not be used as an instrument for fundamentalist ideologies and a populist agenda.« They explicitly hold states responsible, the ability of women and girls to respect autonomous decision-making, to remove obstacles and barriers to safe terminations and in particular to consider strategies for the needs of lesbian and bisexual women, trans men and all gender-diverse people.
The annual day of action has its origins in Latin America. Since the 1990s, women’s groups have been mobilizing and demanding that their governments decriminalize abortion, provide access to safe abortion, and end the stigma surrounding abortion. The date – September 28 – was chosen to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Brazil. The day has been celebrated around the world since 2011.
