BREAKING: Abortion Criminalization Awful Public Policy
This account of the Moroccan government’s attempts to past modest reforms of the country’s bad abortion laws provides yet another lesson in how abortion laws are even worse in practice than in theory:
Morocco is one of the more liberal Muslim countries and allows the early termination of pregnancy, with spousal consent, to save the life of the woman or to preserve her physical or mental health. Still, abortion is stigmatized socially, legally and religiously, and abortions for unmarried women are illegal, resulting in high numbers of illegal terminations. A 2008 study, the most recent available, put the number of abortions in Morocco as high as 600 a day.
Last week a leading gynecologist, Chafik Chraibi, put the figure even higher. Dr. Chraibi, a professor of gynecology at Mohammed V University in Rabat, who is an ardent campaigner for legalizing abortion, said the real figure “is probably closer to 900 a day, when you take into account the nonmedical abortions carried out at home.”
“In Morocco, according to the World Health Organization, 13 percent of maternity deaths are from abortions,” he said.
Women coming to him after botched terminations — often carried out in makeshift operating rooms in filthy basements — were frequently “mutilated,” with many suffering from hemorrhaging uteri or perforated abdomens, Dr. Chraibi said.
Forcing women to carry pregnancies to term is terrible idea in any case. But even on its own terms criminalizing abortion does very little to protect fetal life, but is very successful in maiming and killing women. (Whoops — by discussing the actual consequences of bans on abortion I think I’m now guilty of “Borking.”)
It always reminds me of the Swedish Chef.
Is it safe to assume that total subjugation of women is at the heart of all fundamentalist religious movements?
‘Cause it sure looks that way to me.
Now, be a good little girl and:
Get the bisquit’s in the oven, and your buns in the bed.
Stay barefoot and pregnant.
Walk a few steps behind us men folk.
And keep your trap shut unless you’re spoken to!
oh, yeah. The fundie forms of religions (fundy Christianity, Orthodox Judaism, fundy Islam) are all united in their inordinate hatred of women.
You can add fundamentalist Hinduism to that list as well.
You are definitely now a candidate for one of Andrew Sullivan’s Michael Moore awards.
Proving yet again that Sully is a certified right-wing scumbag watercarrier.
And don’t you forget it. You, in a general sense sooner.
Come on now, Scott. You know full well that conservative policies never have any untoward consequences. They are all rainbows, glitter, unicorns, and PONIES!
why do you believe the consequence is untoward in the fundamentalists eye?
I do not in fact, but their public argument is that bad things do not happen to anyone as a result of their policies.
Exactly. Privately, many (most?) believe, if the women are maimed or killed, the sluts got what was coming to them. They can’t be too public about such sentiments, of course.
Yep. Same for racial, labor, and other policies. If anyone is hurt, it is their own fault for being scum.
Sounds very much like some of my experiences in Nigeria.
One memorable case was assisting at an emergency laparotomy for a 21yr old with uterine perforation who had a dilatation and curettage(D&C) after ingesting a herbal concoction in a backroom somewhere.The smell was…memorable.
And social pressures pretty much ensure that there will be no near or mid term change in the regulatory environment.
Larger cities do have abortion mills,though,usually near universities, and operated by everyone from actual doctors to hospital janitors(really).They maintain operation by obscurity.Followup is non-existent,as is counselling.And still Nigeria clocks near 800,000 terminations a year as of 2006.
Americans really don’t know how good they have it sometimes.
Dear muslima…
The country is 40% Christians, who dominate in the south of the country.
That’s a reference to Richard Dawkins. He started a comment in which he “argued” that western women have no right to complain about rabidly sexist behavior at atheist conferences when Muslim women in parts of the world have to deal with genital mutilation with the phrase “Dear Muslima.” He characterized a woman noting that there’s something creepy and wrong about strangers cold propositioning them for sex, alone in an elevator, at four AM, after the woman made it publicly clear that she just wanted to get back to her room and go to sleep, as telling muslim women to shut up about their problems.
Richard Dawkins did not have a shining moment there.
That is generally the case when he deals with gender (or other social) issues.
IIRC, before Roe v. Wade, problems from abortions was the second or third biggest killer of teenage girls in the US. Although as this is a statement I read several years ago, I do not how this was determined.
Just to get a feel for the significance of these reported numbers, I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation which makes it clear there can’t be more than 2000 live births each day in Morocco.
[...] abortion simply wouldn’t work anyway. Today, Scott Lemieux at the Lawyers, Gun$ and Money blog claims, “even on its own terms criminalizing abortion does very little to protect fetal life, but is [...]
[...] abortion simply wouldn’t work anyway. Today, Scott Lemieux at the Lawyers, Gun$ and Money blog claims, “even on its own terms criminalizing abortion does very little to protect fetal life, but is [...]
[...] abortion simply wouldn’t work anyway. Today, Scott Lemieux at the Lawyers, Gun$ and Money blog claims, “even on its own terms criminalizing abortion does very little to protect fetal life, but is [...]
Looks like your are getting some Fundy linkage there, but anyway as soon as I read this:
I copied it with the intention of pasting it here with the message that this statement should be widely and firmly disseminated, again and again. Its true and important.
There are many good ways that will minimize abortions, but no good way to completely forbid abortions. And the people who have decided that the only goal they are willing to seek is a total ban on all abortions (plus or minus in cases of rape yadda yadda) will always fail and are wrong-headed in their thinking. Led along of course by the likes of Randal Terry, who has gotten rich by decrying the ‘murder’ of fetuses and has…never gotten any results as far as policy despite the millions he has been given over the years. Why would he want any change? Then the gravy train is over!
The law is not a magic wand, it does have limitations. You can’t just use it as a club to make other groups do what you like, there will always be inefficiencies and unanticipated consequences.
And you are not allowed to ignore those real world consequences just because you want to be a purest.
Umm, having clicked one of those links, it does appear that you can deal with the consequences by saying that all those girls dying is ok because they are bad people.
If you wanted to. As a Christian, of course :-D
[...] Guns and Money’s Scott Lemieux points to evidence from Morocco to suggest that the only thing anti-abortion legislation does is harm women, not [...]