March 15 marks more than the Ides of March, this year it is also the second day of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60) held at the United Nations.
Access to Abortion and Bodily Autonomy: Achieving Women’s Human Rights was the fourth meeting I attended. Of all the events it was the most egregious. At times some of the panelists’ tone sounded hostile. Those who oppose abortion as well as contraception were painted at times as judgmental, uncompassionate, and controlling.
“It is not like the others say that we do not care about life. But it is because we care about life!” The moderator was defending against the criticisms of pro-lifers. To him those that support abortion do care about life, in fact they are very empathic. They care a lot about women, and that women should have good lives. Women should be able to have freedom over their body. They care about women facing violence, sexual exploitation, child marriage, etc.
Yet where is his empathy for the human being in the womb whose life he is determining as less significant, whose rights are thought irrelevant? Instead, his words imply that opponents of reproductive health are the ones who are uncaring.
There was also a big emphasis on ending maternal deaths. He pointed out that when there is legalized abortion and access to safe abortions, maternal deaths decrease. While I am neither a data whiz nor a doctor, it seems obvious that abortion is not a panacea for ending maternal deaths as it was represented to be.
“Abortion is not a question of taking something out of a body, but it is giving back to the body and spirit” to a women. Clearly the moderator forgot that an abortion entails ripping the unborn baby from their mother’s womb. Just in virtue of what an abortion is, any question concerning abortion involves the unborn.
The issue of abortion is bigger then women’s issues it concerns humanity as a whole.
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