T O P I C R E V I E W
grumpy hedgehog
Member # 95545
posted 04-13-2012 01:33 AM
In Romania (historically land of the highest death rate caused by illegal abortions in the period when the communist dictator Ceausescu has made abortions illegal, and where legalizing abortions was the second law made after the revolution) a group of local traditionalist, using american pro-life arguments and money, wants to pass a law to make an 5-day period of "crisis pregnancy counseling" mandatory before an abortion, where women would be shown pictures and movies of bloody embryos, been forced to listen to the heartbeats of their embryo, got "informed about the negative psychological consequences of abortion", and generally got shamed for being a heartless slut. The state hospitals and orphanages are very poor, but apparently there is money for this. My question is: do you have some links about what happened in other countries where stuff like this got made into law? I know you have a page on american CPCs with links to statistics, I will check them out, but they aren't mandatory there, and I am asking about the mandatory version. If you don't remember anything from the top of your head, it's ok, I will try to find the information myself, I don't want to burden you with too much work. I am just asking in case there is some respectable source (world health organization?) writing in this same topic you happen to know about right now. [ 04-13-2012, 01:35 AM: Message edited by: grumpy hedgehog ]
Robin Lee
Member # 90293
posted 04-13-2012 10:22 AM
This is an important question. I'm going to do some research and talk to other Scarleteen staff and volunteers. This type of political and social awareness is a big part of what we do, so don't think you're burdening us. You're raising issues that need to be looked at. If you find anything out yourself will you let us know?
grumpy hedgehog
Member # 95545
posted 04-13-2012 03:35 PM
We have 1. a lot of information about the past, and, played well, the anti-[communist dictatorship] card might be a strong one. If you are interested of the details of this particular "experiment" there is an awesome docuemntary called Decreteii: "The <<decreteii>> are the babies born on command after the decree 770 from 1966 that became law, which banned abortion for women under 40 and with less than four children, and also the use of any contraceptive methods. “Thanks” to this legislative “masterpiece,” during 1967-1972 over two million babies who were called “decretei” were born, over 10,000 women died after illegal abortions (only according to the communist statistics) and over 25,000 children became motherless orphans." One of the guys who participated in the execution of the ex-dictator appears and says that he is a "decretel". * Since the revolution, abortion rates have dramatically dropped, thanks to the access to contraceptives, but it is still true what the other side says, that it is still one of the highest. 2. Writing an article on the topic, I have found the point of view of the World Health Organization, United Nations, Guttmacher Institute... so I have the resources for basic facts about how illegalizing abortions leads to unsafe abortions, how they generally recommend prevention etc. 3. What I am curious about and haven't investigated yet is if you know about other countries where this kind of counseling is mandatory, and what kind of consequences it had (personal stories would be nice, too). I can imagine a lot of awful scenarios, but some info might help. Anyway, I know that the big question is how to use the information, not how to acquire it, but I'm not asking you to serve me a strategy, adapted to the preferences of the romanian public (and there are already a few local NGOs working on the topic, so it's not hopeless). I'm just asking about statistics, just as I say in the title. And thank you a lot for the good intentions. *If you are still interested, there is this Cannes award-winning movie (harsh and documentary-like) about the struggle a young woman and her best friend get trough to get her an illegal abortion in that era: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Months,_3_Weeks_and_2_Days . [ 04-13-2012, 03:53 PM: Message edited by: grumpy hedgehog ]
Jill2000Plus
Member # 41657
posted 04-15-2012 03:51 PM
I'm afraid I can't help you out with statistics at the moment, but I wanted to say that I saw 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and I thought it was excellent and heartbreaking.