Right to abortion, right to health
It is not customary for a medical journal to write two editorials on the same subject, with an interval of a few weeks.The prestigious weekly The Lancet has done so, and it is no coincidence, which demonstrates the importance of the issue addressed. The issue is abortion and, more specifically, the consequences of reducing the chances of safe abortion.According to data published this year, in the world, 227 million pregnant women remain each year. Of these, 44% are unwanted pregnancies, of which 56% end in abortion, 32% in unwanted childbirth and 12% lose spontaneously. Compared to data from ten years ago, the influence of the economic level of countries is evident: in economically rich countries unwanted pregnancies and abortions have been considerably reduced, while in economically less wealthy countries the rate of abortions is higher than them, and in these ten years the data have not changed. Most of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. In high-level people, in general, they have on hand drugs that allow safe abortions (combination of misoprostol and mifepristone) and laws are less restrictive. On the contrary, in many other countries, mifepristone is too expensive, scarce resources and laws also put much more demanding limits. In recent times, however, The Lancet warns that trends that hinder safe abortion also in economically rich countries are growing. A clear example of this is the United States. In January 2017 the government Donald Trump launched the order "Protecting life in global healthcare". It is also known as “Global Motor Order” and “Extended Policy in Mexico City”, which denies the grant of grants to non-governmental organizations reporting on abortion abroad. Founded by Ronald Reagan, all Republican presidents have established it. Trump's version is even tougher as it affects all national global health care as well as the AIDS emergency plan. However, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health needs to take into account all risk factors, and many of them go together and face each other together: AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, cancers, unwanted pregnancies (including those due to rape).All of this, together with the possibility of safe abortions, not only abroad (Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, in the United States, especially South Africa. And under the global fashion order, the chances of safe abortions in many states have been greatly reduced: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Ohio, Texas, Kentucky, Utah… Given this, The Lancet says there is no right to health, no right to safely abort.
Published in the newspaper Berria.
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