(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
documentary Birthright: A War Story looks at the long struggle for women's rights to decide on their own bodies in the United States. Although the fight for women's right to self-determined abortion was won by "Roe v. Wade" in 1973, the fight against abortion has only increased in strength since then – in line with the fact that more and more conservatives have come to power at the local, state and eventually all the way up to the federal level.
An invisible battle for us. Since 2010, no less than 300 restrictions on women's reproductive rights have been adopted in states around the United States. According to this documentary, the United States has the highest pregnancy-related mortality rate in the West, and it is only continuing to increase as the United States becomes increasingly conservative. The Tea Party movement, with its right-wing conservative politics, has seen tremendous growth, and one of their martial arts efforts has been precisely the fight against abortion.
So far, we have closed our eyes to what is going on in the United States – perhaps because we dare not think about what the outcome might be, or because the consequences can be so great for women that we are unable to take it over us. I am a woman and a feminist, but even I have not had this fight with me except in rough terms; see clips about how doctors and patients at abortion clinics are harassed, and in the worst cases have to cope with life.
Life starts at…? What I haven't seen is how the Conservative legislation in its quest to give birth to a fetus also tear down women's rights. This is a difficult dilemma, and much boils down to when a fetus should actually be considered a human, a person, and have rights accordingly. Is it at conception or is it later in pregnancy? When in a pregnancy should the woman no longer have the right to own body? The religious and strictly conservative groupings have perfectly clear assumptions that life begins at conception. And now we are here, where the violations of women's rights are becoming increasingly evident – along with the consequences.
In poor areas of the United States, religious relief organizations often run health clinics – they "cannot" offer abortion, birth control or sterilization.
It is no longer just about abortion. It is also about contraception and access to adequate health care in connection with pregnancy. It is about the right to make your own choices. About not being forced to choose based on which health services are available. A woman in the documentary tells about how she has been forced to have a caesarean section despite the fact that she wanted a natural birth – no less than three times. The last time, she was wheeled into the operating room without signing papers that it was okay; legal action was threatened to have the caesarean section performed.
The United States has the highest pregnancy-related mortality rate in the West, and it is increasing as the country becomes increasingly conservative.
Restrictions carry a high risk. I am a woman of almost 41 years who is voluntarily childless and uses contraception, and I feel that the stories of these women, the abuses they have been subjected to under the auspices of the state, tear in my soul. Some of the women have been imprisoned for having or induced an abortion because, for various reasons, they would not or could not have the child. Some became life-threateningly ill because the hospital and the doctor they went to would not perform the abortion they requested. The child who had to die before they could remove it, so that it was not considered murder. The fact that the mother becomes seriously ill with infections is subordinate to the fetus' rights.
It is incomprehensible to me that politicians in the United States are unable to stop the destructive development, that women's right to control their own wombs has become the main issue in a political power struggle. That they do not understand that the restrictions, and the consequences these have, actually lead to more deaths among mothers and children. In poor areas, there are usually only religious aid organizations that have clinics and offer health care, but these often have restrictions with regard to what services they can offer based on legislation and the individual organizations' statutes. They often cannot offer abortion, contraception or sterilization – for whatever reason. And it is first and foremost the poor and unemployed, who only receive health services through clinics with Medicaid, who are affected by this type of restriction.
What happens when a pregnant woman knows that she is at risk of imprisonment if she seeks medical help during an unwanted pregnancy, or knows that she will not receive the help she needs? She takes the matter into her own hands – whether it means having an abortion performed on the black market as in the 50s, or carrying out a pregnancy without follow-up by health personnel and then carrying out a birth without assistance. Both can lead to severe infections and, in the worst case, deaths. What about the child's rights then? In fact, a child's rights should be about more than the right to life at any cost. Is it better to grow up in the "system" because the mother dies during childbirth? Or be born of a woman who does not want or is unable to take care of one?
Glad I live here. Was Margaret Atwood ahead of her time with the dystopia in the book The Handmaid's Tale? I see where the United States is going, and I absolutely do not like it. After watching the documentary, I'm glad I live in Norway – where I have the right to decide over my own body and what I do with it. Where I decide whether I want children or not. Where both I and my possible child are taken care of throughout the pregnancy and are closely followed up afterwards. I have choices and am informed of them all before I make my decisions, and I face no condemnation when the choices are made. I do not risk imprisonment if I choose what I believe is justifiable and best for all parties. Let's hope this never changes.
