European women initiated the debate. This was a region where the struggle for abortion and the right to contraception was a driving force behind the construction of the women's movement in the '70s and '80s.
Abortion is practiced the world over.
In countries where abortion is illegal, it is practiced clandestinely, often with grave consequences for women. "Studies from South America and the Caribbean have shown that it is the major cause of maternal mortality," said a Haitian delegate during the October meeting.
It is a political issue. It takes a lot of courage to raise this question in countries where performing or having an abortion can lead to imprisonment. "Forces of the right and extreme right are on the attack, even in countries where abortion is legal," confirmed the Italian delegate.
In January 2002, 17 women were prosecuted in Portugal for performing or undergoing an abortion. Portuguese women, along with Basque and Galician women drafted a "Platform for the Right to Choose."
In certain platforms, the demand was explicitly set out, particularly "when a woman's life is endangered, in cases of rape or a deformed fetus," (Honduras), or for "therapeutic reasons" (Peru). In Chile, women are mainly fighting for access to the morning-after pill, following a decision-influenced by anti-choice groups-prohibiting its sale.
"Clandestine abortions must be prevented by strengthening NGOs' role of providing support and follow-up services to women who have abortions, single women and abandoned children," stated Moroccan women. This demand was also taken up by women in Nicaragua and Brazil.
Women in Benin fought against forced abortions. Indian women denounced the selective abortion of female fetuses.
Reproductive health also means the ability to choose whether or not to be sterilized. Honduran women demanded "that hospitals cease to require husbands' consent to sterilization, especially when women themselves have made this decision."
Haitian women called for the inclusion of family planning services in all health clinics and improved access to contraception and sex education in the schools. Brazilians demanded that abortion be legalized and provided by the public health network.
Other groups, particularly in Africa, focussed their demands on the creation of health clinics to assure safe conditions for giving birth (Angola, Chad, Congo Brazzavile, Mali).
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