How the US abortion rights battle is affecting women across the world
ANALYSISUS anti-choice groups are supporting local agencies in countries across Africa and are spreading stigma and false information about sexual and reproductive health, often putting women’s lives at risk
As the US Supreme Court prepares to rule on what would be the greatest abortion rights rollback since Roe v Wade enshrined access to terminations in law in 1973, the effect of its decision could send shockwaves across the world.
While the effect of US abortion policies overseas is not a new phenomenon, it’s likely that any move to constrain or repeal Roe v Wade would have an unprecedented chilling effect on abortion rights globally.
As a safe abortion and reproductive health provider, many of our country programmes have felt the full force of Trump’s Global Gag Rule, a US policy that blocked US federal funding for abortion overseas and helped to further legitimise anti-choice movements outside of the US.
While Trump left office nearly a year ago, and the Global Gag Rule has been reversed by President Biden, the anti-choice movement is sustained by attacks on abortion rights in Texas and Mississippi, both home to organisations that fund anti-choice movements across the world.
In Africa particularly, we are seeing funding and playbooks being exported by US anti-choice groups who are supporting local agencies in countries including Uganda, Zambia, and Nigeria.
This is helping to spread stigma and false information about sexual and reproductive health, often putting women’s lives at risk. Just as the war on abortion rights in America rages on, the global anti-choice movement is more emboldened and more vociferous than ever.
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The anti-choice movement is well-funded, reaching almost every country on the planet. According to the European Parliamentary Forum, around £530m has been spent on anti-gender equality funding between 2009-2018 in Europe alone, including from wealthy individuals and religious extremists close to the previous Trump administration.
This ensures anti-choice activists can continue harassing women and pregnant people outside our UK clinics, while influencing heavily restrictive abortion bills in Poland and Hungary.
The effect of this well-resourced movement stretches into Africa, Asia, and Latin America, too. Open Democracy estimated last year that right-wing Christian organisations in the US spend on average $280m every year attacking abortion and LGBTQIA rights.
Wherever we work, harassment and intimidation of our providers and clients is common. Online attacks that shut down our Facebook or WhatsApp pages – as experienced recently by our Mexico team – are on the rise.
Around the world, anti-choice mystery shoppers, who pose as women seeking help, contact our clinics weekly, wasting time and resources. In some countries this dark money funds networks of pregnancy crisis centres that target women seeking abortion with misleading promises of help.
In countries where abortion is legally restricted, stigma is massive and mortality from unsafe abortion high. Misinformation from social media, and a lack of access to reproductive health and family planning information and services contribute to attitudes that block access to essential, and in some cases, life-saving medical procedures.
Women, wherever they are, will always seek access to abortion services. Globally, around a third of all pregnancies, or 121 million end in abortion.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 45 per cent of all abortions are unsafe, and most of these are in low-income countries where legal restrictions, stigma, and health system challenges force women to risk their lives.
We know that restricting abortion does not reduce its prevalence. In countries that restrict abortion, the percentage of unintended pregnancies ending in abortion has increased by 14 per cent over the last 30 years, and abortion rates are higher than in countries where it is more accessible.
If women have access to abortion services, it is likely they will also have better access to information and be more empowered to make their own choices.
With anti-choice groups in the US buoyed by any potential victory in the Supreme Court, it’s likely that organisations funding the global fight against abortion rights will redouble their efforts, with potentially deadly consequences for women.
However, despite the efforts of a vocal minority that wants to limit women’s reproductive rights, every day we see growing public support for reproductive rights.
This year, abortion has been either decriminalised or legalised in countries with a vocal opposition including Benin, Thailand, San Marino, Gibraltar and Mexico. These acts of hope and solidarity inspire our teams to do all they can to make choice possible for women.
Sarah Shaw is Head of Advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices
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