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Unsafe illegal abortion killing women in Mozambique

Jill

Thank a pro-lifer today!

According to the Health Ministry statistics, complications arising from unsafe abortions account for 16 per cent of maternal deaths in the country and a shocking 55 per cent of all admissions to hospital obstetric and gynecological services.

I don’t think any further comment is necessary.

30 thoughts on Unsafe illegal abortion killing women in Mozambique

  1. Feministe,
    From the name of your organizaton i assume your goal is to serve women.Your home page displays a cartoon character of a girl holding a gun in her hands, shooting. It looks like the little girl is shooting and smilling/happy. Another girl “Girls Rock” looks as if she is ready for a fight. Your articles expresses hate towards pro-life organizations.
    I am a school teacher, a woman. I protect life from the its beginning. I promote justice and honor women. Giving legal right to kill unborn, promoting hate and violence does not empower women. It weakens women. Killing and hate are the most undermining of human characterisit. It is the very bottom of our existence, and this is what I noticed first when I looked at your web site.

  4. Pro-lifers never made these women seek abortions.
    Perhaps both sides should focus more on educating these women on methods of birth control than being self-righteous about the issue at hand.

  5. I say thank you to pro-life for saving thousands of unborn lives!

    LOL…whose? And you can celebrate in light of thousands of dead women? That is some sick reason to celebrate…but then again it never was about a woman’s life now was it?

  6. I say thank you to pro-life for saving thousands of unborn lives!

    Given that abortion rates tend to be as high or higher in countries with strong “pro-life” laws as countries with pro-choice policies, I’d be unimpressed by the ability of “pro-life” groups to save “unborn babies” even if I believed that every fertilized egg was a baby. Bombing women’s health clinics, lobbying for draconian anti-abortion (and anti-contraception) laws, and harassing women seeking pap smears at Planned Parenthood isn’t working. Have you considered looking at the problem more objectively and trying to do things that actually lower the abortion rate (improve access to contraception, make it easier for young or poor women to raise children, etc)? It’s not as sexy as trying to pass laws that restrict women’s rights, but it is more effective in lowering the abortion rate.

    Look up the history of abortion in Romania. If you weren’t a teacher, I’d spoon feed you links, but reallly you should be able to do the research on your own (though I’d be happy to provide some references if you’d like.)

  7. Ania clearly believes in the whole fetus uber alles. Fuck those women; someone did, so they deserve to die.

    That is just a sickening statistic. And that’s what they want to happen here.

  8. I say thank you to pro-life for saving thousands of unborn lives!

    Translation: I say thank you to pro-life for killsing thousands of women!

  9. I promote justice and honor women.

    By celebrating their unecessary deaths thanks to a misogynistic agenda.

    Giving legal right to kill unborn, promoting hate and violence does not empower women.

    But denying them autonomy and basic human rights totally does.

    Killing and hate are the most undermining of human characterisit.

    So why do you praise a misogynistic agenda that literally killing women?

  10. I’m wondering if Jill took the time to examine whether abortion is legal or illegal in Mozambique past reading this short article before writing this post.

    According to the UN – ” Although this Penal Code is presumably still in force in Mozambique, in 1981, the Ministry of Health issued a decree allowing abortions to be performed in hospitals in cases of endangerment of health and contraceptive failure. A committee was to make the decision as to whether legal grounds for abortion existed. Since then, the decree has been interpreted very liberally in some hospitals, and abortions are provided there to women who sign a written statement requesting the abortion.

    The Government of Mozambique considers the levels and trends of fertility to be unsatisfactory in relation to family well-being. Infant mortality and child mortality are extremely high. Therefore, the main objective of the Government’s family planning programme is to reduce fertility as well as maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. Family planning services emphasize the provision of intrauterine devices, the pill and sterilization for women over age 35 that obtain the husband’s consent. However, because family planning methods are not widely available in Mozambique, induced abortion, performed largely by traditional practitioners, is often used as a method of birth control.

    The Government is concerned about the increase in maternal mortality related to induced abortion. Although most local hospitals will perform abortions, they do so for a fee. This has tended to put abortion beyond the reach of most patients who need it, who then resort to unsafe alternatives. ”

    So in other words, abortion is performed legally at most hospitals but some people can’t afford it so they instead go to “traditional practitioners” and “unsafe alternatives.”

    How exactly are prolifers to be blamed for this?

  11. The UN statement clearly shows that the law is not off the books and the decree is not helpful if women don’t have access to birth control and can’t afford the fee even if they get the hospital to agree.

    How are pro-lifers to blame? Have you ever had to get your spouse’s permission to have surgery? How about giving a written statement (“the CIA’s own estimate is that female literacy is at 32.7%) for a medical procedure? Let’s say you live below the povety line with 70% of the population, how do you pay for this procedure? Your own quote notes that the fee itself puts the procedure out of reach for most women.

    In a pro-choice nation, women don’t need to be literate, have money, or a supportive spouse to manage their reproduction.

  13. A committee was to make the decision as to whether legal grounds for abortion existed.

    A committee gets to decide whether a woman will be compelled to carry a pregnancy against her will. Nice.

  14. A committee gets to decide whether a woman will be compelled to carry a pregnancy against her will.

    And yet, we need to explain why anti-choicers are to blame.

  15. Netter,
    So prolifers (ones in the U.S. apparently) are to blame for women in Mozambique choosing to have unsafe abortions performed by traditional practitioners because they can’t afford (or don’t want to pay for) an abortion at a hospital?

    And how would you propose that prolifers fix this problem? Should we be paying for the abortions of women in Mozambique? The reality is that abortion in places like Mozambique is not going to be anywhere near as safe for the woman as abortions performed in the U.S. regardless of whether it is legal or not. Prolifers aren’t to blame for women in Mozambique going to traditional practitioners (even if there were no law against abortion – some women would still likely have these kinds of unsafe abortions) and I’m struggling to see why pro-choicers here feel the need to blame prolifers for the unfortunate deaths of these women.

  16. I’m struggling to see why pro-choicers here feel the need to blame prolifers for the unfortunate deaths of these women.

    Hmm…Maybe because pro-lifers lobby to cut programs that provide birth control (and education on how to use it) to poor women? Almost no politically active pro-life group is also pro-birth control except for the infamous abstinence only teaching. Or because they set up hoops that women must jump through to prove that they are “worthy” of getting a safe, legal abortion, leading to more women going to cheaper traditional healers who won’t demand 24 hour waiting periods, multiple visits, an ultrasound, a second opinion, or whatever other barrier the “pro-life” movement has managed to put in place? Or because the “pro-life” movement takes money away from programs that might allow these women to get safe, legal, free abortions rather than having to go to riskier traditional healers?

  17. No, the problem isn’t that she chooses a traditional practitioner, the problem is all of the hurdles put in her way, put there by people who do not think women should decide when to carry a pregnancy to term. We don’t pay for anyone’s abortions. We don’t pay for women’s health education if there’s the sniff of the word abortion. But, the world community as a whole pays dearly for these dead women and what are probably many children left motherless. How would I suppose prolifers fix the problem? By doing something to help born people.

  18. JivinJ:
    Prolifers are the ones who put up so many roadblocks to getting a safe abortion that women have to resort to risky abortions in unsafe conditions.

  19. So prolifers (ones in the U.S. apparently) are to blame for women in Mozambique choosing to have unsafe abortions performed by traditional practitioners because they can’t afford (or don’t want to pay for) an abortion at a hospital?

    Yeah, it’s called The Global Gag Rule. Try looking it up.

    You’re being blamed because in a pro-choice nation, abortion would be easily accessible to all women regardless of income or location. In an anti-choice nation, if abortion is legal at all, it is expensive and difficult to obtain, because of policies that you support. If abortion is legal but women can’t afford to get to one, they’re going to start puncturing their uteruses with coat hangers. Simple. Logic is fun!

    And I’m just going to pretend that Ania Franczyk is a parody. It makes me feel better. Just like it makes “pro-lifers” feel better to pretend that outlawing abortion saves lives. Oh, except that my self-delusion doesn’t result in anyone’s painful and senseless death.

  20. Chantal: “Perhaps both sides should focus more on educating these women on methods of birth control than being self-righteous about the issue at hand.”

    You are aware that it is Pro-Choice groups who are fighting for access to birth control, sex education and other family planning education for women and that all of the organized prolife groups actively oppose access to contraception and sex education, right?

  21. And how would you propose that prolifers fix this problem?

    Okay here goes:

    Support global family planning programs that offer contraception and VALID sex ed other than “don’t have sex unless you’re married” Thanks to US “pro-life” policies and politicians, international family planning funded by the US restricts funds to ANY nation/program that DARES talk about condoms or BC. If they offer abortion services of any kind they are immediately barred from ANY fuinding.

    See, “pro-lifers” in the US aren’t content with US kids being taught anything other than abstinence. They think it should be GLOBAL policy, regardless of foreign cultures or practices. In nations where women are infected with HIV from their husbands, do you see the “pro-life” activists pushing for condom usage to #1 halt the disease and #2 prevent HIV+ women from having children? Nope. They still chant their abstinence mantra and BC fails mantra.

    I suggest “pro-lifers” get off their moral (and I use that term VERY loosely when describing those people) @sses and start dealing with reality. NO “pro-life” organization in the US condones BC and NO US pro-life organization that has a hand in international family planning condones BC or accurate sex-ed. It is their morality (gag) and all who do not follow suit are good enough for death.

    Does that answer your question?

  22. Some things are worth fighting for. One of those things is the right of a woman not to be forced to continue a pregnancy against her will. Another is to prevent women dying painfully and uselessly.

  23. Many of you seem very aggravated with my comment -no surprise-I am 100 % pro saving unborn and you are 0 % pro saving unborn (whom many are girls, does that change your point of view, I don’t think so), but no one adressed the first part of my question. Can somone explain why the home page of this web site shows an image of a little girl shooting from her gun and smilling. Does she represent who a feminist sholud be? Does anyone know?

  25. Can somone explain why the home page of this web site shows an image of a little girl shooting from her gun and smilling.

    ‘Cause it’s fun, and its fun comes from the dissonance between our cultural associations with smiling little blonde girls and our cultural associations with large shotguns. Dissonance is the source of lots of humor–it’s a shame if you haven’t yet realized that.

    For one thing, feminism does not necessarily equal pacifism, and for another, many of us here are able to tell the difference between drawings of imaginary little girls holding guns and actual, real-life violence. Sometimes I watch movies in which sharks eat people, but that doesn’t mean that I’m pro-man-eating shark. It’s this amazing faculty many people have–the ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality.

    Now that your question has been answered, perhaps you’ll allow the rest of us to return to the topic at hand.

  26. Dianne,
    Are you referring to efforts to prevent organizations who promote and commit abortions from getting U.S. tax dollars? If so, then if the organizations really wanted to obtain U.S. family planning funds, they could quit providing and promoting abortion. They choose not to. Abortion, apparently, is more important to them than receiving family planning funds.

    So prolifers are to blame for women in Mozambique choosing to go to traditional practitioners because some prolifers favor abstinence education? Now that’s some sound reasoning. You’re really grasping at straws here.

    Many states and many European countries have waiting periods for abortions – are women there dying because they choose to go to traditional practitioners? Let’s see. Nope. Can you honestly think that a 24-hour waiting period is what causes someone to go to a traditional practitioner? How many other surgeries require an individual to wait awhile before the surgery?

    Netter,
    No, the actual problem is that women in Mozambique are choosing to go to traditional practitioners. Simply asserting otherwise and blaming prolifers is hardly convincing.

    Cara,
    I’m well aware of what the Global Gag Rule/Mexico City policy is. However, no evidence has been provided here that the choice of abortion providing and promoting organization to continue to provide and promote abortion instead of getting overseas U.S. family planning is the cause of women in Mozambique choosing to go to traditional practitioners for abortions.

    Logic is fun!

    I suggest you take a community college class in logic because you don’t appear to know how logic actually works. In this pro-choice echo chamber it seems to work something like this:

    1. Women choose to do something dangerous.
    2. We don’t like prolifers and we think (without providing a scrap of evidence) their policy forced this woman to do something dangerous.
    Therefore,
    3. Prolifers are evil and to blame for women choosing to do something dangerous.

    Logic is fun!!!

  27. ElleBeMe,
    It doesn’t really answer the question for me.

    Are prolife organizations required to delve into subjects that they don’t consider their issue? Does this work for non-prolife organizations as well? For example, is the Sierra Club to blame for women in Mozambique going to traditional practitioners for abortions?

    If not, then I’m struggling to see why prolife organizations whom often have very specific goals should begin promoting contraception use overseas. Basically, you appear to be mad at prolife groups for not doing what Planned Parenthood and other organizations are supposedly doing. It seems to me that you think prolife organizations should change their mission from protecting the unborn to providing contraceptives to developing nations and if they don’t then they’re just sitting on their moral rears.

  28. EG-
    You wrote: “Dissonance is the source of lots of humor–it’s a shame if you haven’t realized that yet.”

    Amusing dissonance ?- Sweet little girl, big- bad -boys’ gun. But no, no, no. She can kill too .Ha Ha Ha. Here is a great idea-let’s pretend that images that promote hate and violence are not only harmless they are also funny. What a shame that I am not laughing!

    Ajane-
    you wrote: “Is that seriously all the material you have, Ania”

    No.
    Lets’ blame pro-life for abortions and for women who died or suffered in Mozambique

    I am a prgnent woman in Mozambique. I am poor and not l educated but I know I have the follwoing chioces

    A -Have the baby
    AB -Abort the prengnancy at a “traditional practitioner”-unsafe
    ABC -Abort the pregnency at a hospital (fee, permiton, wait period, etc.)

    I can also predict the logical consequences of my actions:

    If A – I save the baby, do not put my life in danger, life will get harder with another baby
    If AB -I kill the baby, put myself in a lot of danger, I might even die
    If ABC -I Kill the baby, put myself in a lot of trouble, see above, have a medial prcedure that potentialy may harm me physicaly and psychologicaly.

    In contrary to many of you, I am mature enough to understand that If I choose AB or ABC I cannot blame pro-life, becasue pro-life does not promote any of the above. If I suffer, and I most likly will, I should blame pro-choice-because they promote these practices. I can also blame myself for the very wrong decision that I have made.

    And if I choose to have the baby I would love to have pro-choice donate some of the mony they spend on abartions to me and to my baby. How about that?
    Pro-life way- 2 lives saved
    Pro-choice way- 1 or 2 lives taken away

    Pro-life values: love, repsect for life, promotion of familes, responsibility
    Pro-choice values: death, promotion of oneself, do what you like

  29. Oh my god… there’s a girl shooting a shotgun on the front page of this site!! I never noticed that before. How shocking and violent.

    I suspect she is trying to shoot down a flying fetus. What a reprehensible little tyke.

  30. Having served as a hospital administrator in Mozambique, having heard the cry of a mother following the death of her child to malnutrition or malaria, I can tell you that life took a different meaning for me. Life of a new birth, be it of poorest economic circumstances, brings Hope.
    Years have passed since I was there but I can still hear the mother’s cry of death, of assisting attendents to help a mother sob her way into her own fetal position in the back of a worn out pickup truck and drive her home to her hut.
    Some way the neighbor ladies would know of death, and would have swept her yard and gotten out the best grass mat for her to rest on as they consoled her back to daily living. Nothing has ever touched me so deeply. Thanks. c/

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