Once again, legislation regarding abortion is a huge topic in the news. Russia has the worlds highest abortion rates, but also has the worlds highest infant and mother mortality rates. In 2009, 73 per 100 pregnancies were abortions. This is a huge number of abortions and the government plans to take steps in decreasing it because they say their population is declining. People opposing the campaigns say that even if abortions are limited, the population will still not be able to boost. The government's campaign will be to have advertisements that tell negative and alleged health risks that abortions cause. The government, like many in the United States, is also putting many restrictions on abortions, from when they can be performed, to information the doctors must tell patients. There is an underlying issue in Russia that is however not being addressed that could prevent abortions to begin with. That is the lack of contraceptives and information about contraceptives. During the Soviet rule, abortions were completely fine, however "Western" methods of contraceptives were seen to give women autonomy. Therefore, abortions were more "suitable" because that was in the hands of the government. Although the Soviet rule fell, contraceptives are still limited and often bad quality. Furthermore, contraceptive information is severely lacking because women have always relied on abortions for unwanted pregnancies.
The health care in Russia does not focus on women and actually gives faulty information about contraceptives and abortions.
As we discussed in class about Japan, different programs can and should be instated to boost the population; not restrictions and faulty information regarding a woman's reproductive systems and health. Also, if more women were education and had access to reliable contraceptives, abortions would decrease rapidly. The global issue regarding Russian abortions is not only limitations to them that infringe on women's rights, but also of governments giving faulty information to its' citizens. If this does happen, what is to stop the rest of the worlds powers from providing incorrect or uneducated information to its' masses to reach a goal. Furthermore, as more and more states in the U.S create strict laws regarding abortion, that further pushes other countries (less industrialized and up to date on medical care) to follow in our footsteps. It is bad enough for women in the United States, land of the free, to have "limited" medical care, but relatively speaking, many more women are suffering from extremely limited medical care and knowledge.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-obrien/russia-abortion_b_1084549.html
4 comments:
Education is so vital for in so many aspects of global problems around the world. Women should be able to learn about effective and safe contraceptives. This could be very helpful in decreasing the mother mortality rates as well as the high abortion rates. If women don't want to be pregnant, then they should knows ways of preventing pregnancy instead of having to rely on abortions.
I agree with Briannon, being educated about what methods you can take to prevent those situations is extremely important. Issues like this popped up in some articles about Africa, women didn't have safe or healthy contraceptives and care for pregnant women was almost non-existent in some places.
I totally agree with both comments here. Education is the corner stone to solve so many of our global problems in this world. If these woment were more educated or even given accurate information a lot more lives would have been saved. Abortions are not the only way to prevent pregnancies and women should be given the option to partake in these other safer methods.
I agree with the comments above. Being educated on a topic can make a world of a difference on the outcome and future.
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