A-Infos (en) Germany, Die Platform: Safe Abortion Day: Defend existing rights, fight for self-determination! (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

September 28th is "International Safe Abortion Day". Like every year, in 
2024 women, other people of childbearing age and their allies all over 
the world will take to the streets on this day to stand up for the right 
to abortion. ---- Although the history of the feminist struggle for 
physical self-determination goes back far into the origins of the 
organized women's movement, the concrete origin of this day lies in 
1990, when feminist organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean 
first called for actions for the right to abortion on September 28th.

Even 34 years later, there are still more than enough reasons to keep 
fighting for real physical self-determination.

A restricted right

In a small number of countries, abortion is still prohibited without 
exception. Anyone who still carries out an abortion or has one carried 
out must do so in secret, at great risk to their health, and expect 
severe penalties if discovered.

In a large number of countries, abortions are only possible under 
exceptional circumstances. For example, if the life of the person 
concerned is in danger or if it can be proven that they are unable to 
care for a child.

In the majority of countries worldwide, those affected can decide to 
have an abortion within a certain period of time without such exceptions 
- even if, as in Germany, abortions are still formally illegal. In 
reality, however, there are a number of factors that make it 
considerably more difficult or even impossible to carry out an abortion.

In many countries, including Germany, pregnant women must seek "advice" 
from an appropriate agency about the consequences of their decision 
before having an abortion. In this way, those affected are deprived of 
the ability to make their own decisions. Especially in conjunction with 
the still enormous social stigma, such a requirement to seek advice can 
ensure that those affected refrain from having an abortion they actually 
want.

Anyone who has been certified by a counseling center to be able to make 
decisions about their own body faces the problem of finding a medical 
facility that can perform an abortion in a timely manner. Even though 
Paragraph 219a has been repealed for two years and facilities are no 
longer criminalized for publicly pointing out the possibility of an 
abortion, this is difficult. The deterioration of conditions in the 
increasingly privatized and cost-cutting health system does not stop at 
the possibility of an abortion. Hospital departments are being closed, 
practices are closing, waiting lists are growing. In more and more parts 
of Germany, it is no longer possible to perform an abortion within the 
planned time period.

However, only those who have the necessary financial means can switch to 
other regions. Given the already existing costs of an abortion, this 
makes it even more difficult for those affected who live in particularly 
precarious circumstances to get the necessary treatment.

Finally, in addition to all of the above, there is the fact that one of 
the population groups living in the most precarious situation has 
practically no access to the health system and thus also to abortions: 
illegal migrants. They have to fear discovery, handover to the 
authorities and deportation and therefore turn to medical facilities 
less often even in life-threatening conditions.

Reactionary offensive

As if the current situation here and even more so elsewhere in the world 
were not bad enough, reactionary sectors of society have always tried - 
but increasingly in the last ten years - to push back the rights we have 
fought for at all levels.

Religious fundamentalists, conservatives and the extreme right are 
entering into a holy alliance for this purpose in many places. They 
incite against the right to abortion in parliaments and on social media, 
make it difficult to find information through fake websites, harass 
patients and employees of medical facilities or organize demonstrations 
like the ones last weekend in Cologne and Berlin.

In Poland, the USA and elsewhere, where the legal development of society 
is already more advanced, the reactionaries have already taken the first 
steps to further restrict the right to abortion and in some places to 
abolish it completely.

Fighting for real self-determination

When we take to the streets today, we know only too well what we have to 
lose. We therefore defend ourselves against every attack on the right to 
abortion, against religious fundamentalism of every kind and the extreme 
right, in the knowledge that every bit of emancipation that we have 
today was won through organized and determined struggle from below.

When we stand up for the defense of our rights, however, we are under no 
illusions:
Our rights under the rule of patriarchy, capitalism and the state are 
always only an expression of the current balance of power between the 
oppressed and the rulers. As long as this system exists, our 
emancipation will never be complete.

Because we are fighting for real, complete physical self-determination 
for all people, we are fighting for a different social order. An order 
that does not subordinate our bodies to the benefit of capital and the 
state and regulates them accordingly. In which pregnant women have every 
opportunity to raise their children in good conditions and collectively, 
as well as to terminate their pregnancy safely and without stigma. Let 
us organize and advance the fight for this society!

Not one step back, a thousand steps forward!

Repel the reactionary offensive!

Fight for real self-determination!

https://www.dieplattform.org/2024/09/28/safe-abortion-day-bestehende-rechte-verteidigen-selbstbestimmung-erkaempfen/#more-3356
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en