by Génesis Luigi WHR, Youth Network Coordinator

“Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself”

I have two favorite hobbies: reading Harry Potter books and advocating for Sexual and Reproductive justice. The quote above brings those two things together. I want to talk about the “A” word and why we need to start and maintain an open conversation about…

…A medical procedure

People around the world have abortions, right now an abortion is happening. And for sure tons of other medical procedures are being performed too: c-sections, transplants, open heart surgeries, you name it. So, let’s think about this: What if all of these medical procedures were illegal? A total nightmare, right? Imagine you had to find an underground service provider and plan a story to tell your boss or teacher to justify medical leave for treating a broken leg. That’s what women have to go through when abortion is penalized.

Let’s say you broke your leg because of “irresponsible behaviour” like climbing where you were not supposed to climb, driving a car while drunk (please, don’t ever think about this), or you were simply walking and fell. When you get to the hospital, do doctors decide if they’ll treat your broken leg because of the reasons it happened? When abortion is legal under only a few circumstances like sexual abuse or life/health risks, a woman’s “reasons” are being judged. If she doesn’t ‘fit’ the legal criteria, she could be turned away, and may be at risk of seeking unsafe abortion, or forced to give birth against her will.

…A stigma

“Women will regret their abortions and live in pain for the rest of their lives”

“All abortion procedures are dangerous”

“Service providers are butchers”

We have all heard –or maybe at a certain point in our lives even said- some of the statements above. But do we really know what safe abortion looks like? Maybe not, because of how we learn about abortion in schools and informal educational settings. We grow up thinking about abortion as a sin or the ultimate crime. Who would feel comfortable and confident talking about sins and crimes?

This is how social stigma works: it discourages people from seeking safe abortion services, demonizes providers, and mutes the advocate. Everything is kept in secret, women who die due to unsafe abortions remain invisible or appear only as an “unknown cause” in the statistics. Silence is the fuel for social stigma and the only way to tackle it is losing the fear to talk frankly about abortion, name it as it is: a medical procedure, not a curse, not a crime, not the “A” Word.