We have a story for you on International Women’s Day about… our Facebook DMs. See, we changed our name to “Abortion Access Front” because we wanted to center “abortion” in our name, to boldly show up for abortion.
But it also means that we a few times a week get messages from people in other countries asking for abortions. It’s a constant reminder to us that people all over NEED abortion access and will do anything to get it. If you are reading this abroad we suggest going to Women Help Women, a great org.
We want to have righteous fury about how many people abroad are being denied abortion care, but it also just makes us so deeply sad. Having to look through Facebook for healthcare is not how the world should be.
Although we know there are different reasons in every country for barriers to access, one that REALLY gets us fuming is the fucking Global Gag Rule, a heinous practice by heinous people who think political power is more important than people’s health! The “Mexico City” policy is a rule that most anti-abortion presidents instate which says that federal funding can’t go to places that provide abortion COUNSELING (not even just care) abroad. It’s … KINDA LIKE WHAT THIS ADMINISTRATION DID TO TITLE X but for everywhere.
The number of unsafe abortions that take place AROUND THE WORLD goes up whenever the rule is intact! Really great helping people here, guys! Thousands of women dying, but look at you you made a political move that assholes here will clap about without having to read ANY of the messages from people desperately seeking abortions. And the Global Gag Rule doesn’t just affect abortion access, it has a ripple affect for women everywhere! It slows the treatment of HIV and it stalls STD prevention. It makes it so we can do… none of the things internationally we should be doing to help.
So this International Women’s Day we can both look at all the laws in the United States that are attempting to curtail abortion rights (a place where abortion is SUPPOSED to be protected by the Supreme Court). But we must also look abroad to all the people abroad who are being hurt by the Global Gag Rule and ask ourselves: are we doing enough to stand up for them?
