Looking ahead to a future without legal abortions in the US | America - The latest news and information | '
The scenery could not be more subtle: a quiet meeting room in a library in Washington, D.C. It's an evening in the middle of the week. Everywhere young people sit together in learning groups. What sets the group I sit in apart from the others is the ratio of women to men – 25 to one. And the leaflets in their hands: Information on how to perform an abortion without medical attention with a pill called misoprostol. The drug is used primarily for the treatment of gastric and intestinal ulcers. In many countries where abortions are illegal, women also take the pill to end an unwanted pregnancy.
Many women in the US are looking forward to such a future. The concern is justified since some US states in the South and Midwest have passed extremely restrictive abortion laws and the conservative Supreme Court is threatening to overturn the groundbreaking "Roe vs. Wade" ruling that had legalized the right to abortion in 1973 , The exchange on alternative methods at information events like this one seems to mark a new frontline in the struggle for women's physical autonomy.
"Roe vs. Wade" has so far secured the constitutional right to abortions. But how much longer?
"Find out about how you can safely and independently finish a pregnancy, because" Roe "already died in 2016," Erin Matson admonishes the audience in the relentless tone of an activist. I quickly get the impression that the co-director of the group "Reproaction", which supports the right to abortions, is not defending her conviction for the first time. "The reality is that women will always find ways to end their pregnancies."
It used to mean that desperate women engaged in dangerous visits to the back rooms of illegal abusers, or with wire hangers trying to put an end to their unwanted pregnancy in a cruel way. In Alabama, one of the states where abortion is looming, a doctor tells me about a young woman so desperate she swallowed bleach to stop her pregnancy.
There are cases such as this that mobilize panelists, including policy advisers, executives of abortion funds, and youth social workers, to discuss safer options for self-administered abortion through to the twelfth week of pregnancy. Guidelines form the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).
In Alabama, there are hardly any clinics that make a termination of pregnancy
Online resistance
The Internet has also formed resistance to the criminalization of abortions. For the first time on the "Reddit" online platform, I come across hints for the revived so-called "Auntie Network", an underground movement from the time before "Roe vs. Wade". There, women help each other to perform abortions across state borders.
"Me, your cousin / best friend Andreya would love to visit you here in good old Nebraska / West Iowa, you're welcome to stay as long as you like, I'll drive you wherever you want to go / I have to read ", I read in a post. Translated, this means that the Reddit user wants to provide her home as a shelter for women who need to leave their home state for abortion. Also a "birthday card" can be sent, it goes on. A card that comes with pills like misoprostol.
However, the revival of the "Auntie Network" on the Internet is not welcome in all pro-abortion activists. They argue that existing abortion funds have already created a well-organized and secure framework for women in need of help, while women in distress in the vastness of the Internet are not getting the support they need.
"It's not something a person can do alone, we do more when we work together and network to build collective strength," says Lindsay Rodriguez of the National Network of Abortion Funds, a sort of umbrella organization for all funds that Assist women financially and logistically in carrying out an abortion. "We fear that duplicating one thing, which is already underfunded, makes it harder for those who want to abort."
In May, people in eight states protested for the right to abortion. Also in front of the Supreme Court in Washington
Many of those who administer abortion funds point out that a collective such as the Auntie Network, while receiving women, does not bear the costs of abortion itself. Therefore, the funds are currently trying hard to explain that abortions and their funding are still possible – despite the prohibition wave that seems to overrun the country, despite.
When I call one of the funds, I am greeted with an automatic telephone announcement. "Hello, you've reached the Yellowhammer Fund, and although Governor Ivey has signed bill HB314, abortions in Alabama are still legal and legal, so if you need financial support for an abortion, please hit the one."
New risks
Nevertheless, both the indignation about the abortion restrictions and the individual offers of help remain. "Dear sisters, we can not do anything about how you are treated in your home state," Shelly O'Brien wrote on Facebook last month.
She runs a small hotel in the state of Michigan, where the so-called "heartbeat" legislation template could soon also provide for severe restrictions on abortions. "But if you make it all the way to Michigan, we'll help you with accommodation and transportation," O'Brien promised in her post.
She has had to endure a barrage of verbal abuse online, O'Brien says, but stick to her offer. "It only changes when people are willing to risk something."
Figures prove: Abortion bans do not lead to fewer abortions. Only more dangerous
In fact, the "aunties" and women considering self-managed abortion seem to take a risk: criminalization.
"I want to make one thing clear," Erin Matson points out to the group, who live in the library in D.C. has gathered. "There is no blood test that shows that misoprostol was swallowed, the symptoms are the same as a miscarriage, you get the same treatment as long as you talk about a miscarriage, but once you mention abortion, you risk one criminal prosecution." The distributed leaflets caution caution: "At least 20 women were arrested for completing their pregnancies."
In the further course of the discussion, it also becomes clear: The Internet could also pave the way for law enforcement. Brooke Butler of the D.C. Abortion Fund warns you, "If you have a miscarriage but have previously searched for information about self-administered abortion through Google, you could be punished." "That's what we're headed for."
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