Uruguay has made history after passing a bill that allows women to have access to safe, legal abortions, making it the third country in Latin American to do so. After reading through the fine print, however, activists say the law is no reason to celebrate.
Katey Zeh, from the Washington-based Center for Health and Gender Equality, says the law was passed by ‘not disrupting the patriarchal assumption that a woman is incapable of making moral decisions on her own’ and that the requirements ‘undermine her decision-making process about her reproductive life.’<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”>
Women seeking an abortion will be required to meet with a panel of professionals including a social worker, a gynecologist and a psychologist and will have to justify her decision. The actual text of the bill reads ‘(The woman) must describe how the pregnancy happened and any difficulties she faces in terms of finances, social and family situations, age or other issues that prevent her from wanting to continue the pregnancy.’ In other words, is your abortion really needed? The fact that women will have to discuss intimate, personal details to a panel of strangers is not the worst of it, though.
After discussing why she is requesting access to basic health services, the woman will then have to sit through a discussion with the panel, discussing ‘adoption and resources available if she decides to parent. This assumes that a woman has not carefully considered the alternatives prior to requesting an abortion.’ The bill also states that ‘The interdisciplinary panel must create an atmosphere of psychological and social support for the woman to enable her to overcome the causes that led her to want to abort the pregnancy and guarantee that she makes a conscious and responsible decision.’
The fact that the bill blatantly assumes a woman who requests an abortion has not done research or considered the effect it will have on her and needs to be lectured is an insult to women’s rights and for the most part, ineffective. A 2009 study conducted in the United States found that enforcing mandatory counselling did not lead to any significant reduction in abortions. The fact that an ‘atmosphere’ is made where women are pressured to consider anything but abortion is completely inappropriate and another example of the insult being made to women’s rights.
After waiting five days, following the panel, a woman is then allowed to access reproductive health services. Despite these significant barriers, this is a major step forward in Uruguay and Latin America. According to the Associated Press, thousands of women were ending up in hospitals suffering from complications from illegal abortions until the government allowed the use of the morning-after pill. Opponents are already planning to appeal the law, however hopefully this will stay legal and eventually be modified so women don’t have to jump through difficult and emotionally exhaustive loopholes to access basic health care services.