A big thank you goes out to all of you who attended Global Choice? Abortion, Access, and Reproductive Rights last night, and special thanks to our fabulous Shameless editor Megan, amazing RABBLE.ca activista Michelle, and directors of the Abortion Democracy and The Coat Hanger Project Sarah Diehl and Angie Young who actually paid their own way to be there.
I’m not alone when I say that everyone’s eyes were opened a little wider last night when looking around the world at abortion rights and the realities of choice. Some facts that were highlighted include:
-The 80 000 women who die each year around the world due to complications from illegal, botched abortions, and the 50 000 who retain major injuries.
-The fact that there is only one provider in the state of South Dakota, whose citizens will again vote this Fall on making all abortions illegal except in the case of rape.
-That Europe isn’t always the dream getaway destination if you are thinking of terminating a pregnancy. In Ireland and Malta a total ban exists, and in Poland abortion is allowed only in exceptional circumstances (life-threatening situations, fetal deformation or in case of rape).
-Although abortion on demand was legalized in South Africa in 1997, 99% of providing hospitals and the only two community health care centres that do provide are situated in the highly urbanized province of Gauteng (meaning you are SOL if you are black, poor, and living in a rural area. Oh wait, that’s like a good majority of the country!)
If you missed the screenings in Toronto, there will be screenings tonight in Montreal and Wednesday in Ottawa.
Hot damn, I’m proud to be pro-choice!
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one comment
It was a fabulous event, and the discussion after the films was as enlightening as the films themselves. The biggest thing I took from the evening was that our focus needs to be "what do we talk about now?" as we move on from The Abortion Question to having dialogue around reproductive justice in general. I'll have to keep my thoughts percolating for a future blog post. ;)
Posted by Julia
September 17, 2008, 12:02 AM
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