What Roe’s overturn means for the world
  July 27, 2022 Dear Meteor readers, I have never been happier to be sitting next to my air conditioner. This might sound a little dramatic, but I spent most of the last week in London where temps got so high they broke a national record and cracked a tarmac at an airport. In the middle of heat that felt like sitting in the lower intestine of Satan after a night at Taco Bell, the British person I was with politely explained to me, “Air con just isn’t a thing for us.” So I’m starting a grassroots campaign to expose the English to air conditioning via my website maketheUKcoolagain.org. In today’s temperature appropriate newsletter, writer and international reproductive rights expert Lori Adelman explains the implications of Roe v. Wade’s death for people who need abortions around the world. But first, a little news. Staying hydrated, Shannon Melero  WHAT’S GOING ONThe sunflower state: On the ballot next week in Kansas is a new proposed amendment to the state constitution that could remove the right to an abortion. Currently, Kansas’ constitution has shielded its citizens from the rollback of Roe v. Wade, but anti-abortion legislators don’t want to let that stand: They’ve written an amendment that, if passed, would swing the door wide open to limit or ban abortion access in the state. This isn’t just a problem for the birthing people of Kansas. The state’s immediate neighbors, Missouri and Oklahoma have banned abortion for their residents (although Missouri allows some if the life of the pregnant person is in danger) and people have been crossing over into Kansas to seek healthcare. You’re probably sick of hearing it, but this is a beyond crucial moment to go out and vote! Sun’s out, buns out: A group of congressional staffers held a sit-in in Senator Chuck Schumer’s office to protest the Democratic Party’s inaction on the climate crisis. Six were arrested, but not before sharing this genuinely chilling message: “We’re asking Senator Schumer to negotiate like this is the coldest summer of the rest of our lives (it is).” 🥶 AND:
 OLIVIA JULIANNA VERY KINDLY WROTE GAETZ A THANK YOU CARD FOR HIS DEDICATION TO ABORTION RIGHTS. (SCREENSHOT VIA TWITTER)
 AROUND THE WORLDWhat the Death of Roe Means for Global Abortion Rights“If the US says no, who are we to say yes?” BY LORI ADELMAN  PROTESTORS IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE IN LONDON (PHOTO BY WIKTOR SZYMANOWICZ VIA GETTY IMAGES) Roughly a year ago, a high court in Malawi issued a somewhat favorable ruling on abortion, clarifying that those seeking access could obtain one in certain circumstances. It wasn’t perfect, but Hester Nyasulu, Executive Director at White Ribbon Alliance Malawi, an organization that works to end maternal mortality, had high hopes to build on this momentum in his country, where unsafe abortion accounts for almost 18% of maternal deaths. As Nyasulu heard that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, overturning the constitutional right to abortion, he felt his longtime efforts to save lives hit yet another snag. “If the US says no, who are we to say yes?” he asks. It’s been one month since SCOTUS issued the deadly Dobbs decision, and the impact across America is already worse than predicted. But if you speak with abortion advocates in Global Majority countries, an additionally devastating picture emerges. Activists report a newly emboldened opposition to reproductive rights from anti-choice factions in their communities. As a result, NGO workers, politicians, and religious leaders will need to fight even harder to protect rights and save lives—and some may be reluctant to go to bat for abortion rights. First, they say, there’s the worry about losing U.S. funding for any work that touches abortion. While the Supreme Court decision should technically have little bearing on foreign aid, healthcare providers in Global Majority countries have been burned before. The global gag rule, which held back U.S. funding from any organization that provided or advocated for abortion, has been rescinded by every Democratic president but reinstated by every Republican president since 1984. This often meant that health centers, NGOs, and community organizations around the world have had to make a kind of Sophie’s choice: provide or fight for abortions, lose funding on any number of equally urgent healthcare priorities.  PROTESTORS IN ARGENTINA SHOW THERE IS NO AGE LIMIT TO ANGER. (PHOTO BY MATIAS BAGLIETTO VIA GETTY IMAGES) Steff Musho, a human rights attorney and feminist advocate in Kenya—where abortion is constitutionally legal under certain circumstances but often unsafe and out of reach—says backlash has worsened since the decision on Roe. “[Dobbs] has emboldened the opposition,” she says. Before the decision, the issue had already been “sensitive and divisive.” Still, advocates across the region had helped advance a bill that would have addressed high maternal mortality and teen pregnancy rates. Now, CitizenGo, a conservative advocacy group founded in Spain that backs global measures opposing same-sex marriage, abortion, trans rights, and more, “is submitting memoranda against the bill as we speak,” she says. “It’s given them so much venom to advance their agenda,” she says. Musho also worries about the broader cultural message sent by a rich, powerful nation denying healthcare to half its population. This kind of signaling can have an outsized influence: “When we see [the SCOTUS decision], African states are going to align,” she says. They know the US can’t take action against them. The Dobbs decision stands in contrast to a broader global trend toward the liberalization of abortion laws. Over the last several years, feminist movements in Global Majority countries have achieved historic gains for abortion rights, including in conservative countries like Mexico, Benin, and Colombia. New WHO guidelines require removing legal and policy barriers to safe abortion, such as mandatory waiting periods. By overturning Roe, the U.S. became just one of eleven countries to restrict abortion rights since the 90s. “The overturning of Roe has shocked the entire continent as a sign of the magnitude of the war against women,” said Cecilia Palmeiro, one of the founders of the transformative Latin American movement Ni Una Menos which organizes to end gender-based violence and advance reproductive justice.  A PROTEST BANNER READS, “WITH OR WITHOUT THE VETO, ABORTION IS MY RIGHT.” (PHOTO BY JUAN DIEGO MONTENEGRO VIA GETTY IMAGES) What’s the solution? For some global activists, it’s rethinking the U.S.’s role as a reproductive rights leader. Since the Dobbs decision, Sierra Leone has taken steps to legalize abortion, citing the colonial origins of its anti-abortion laws. “Why are we even talking about what’s happening in the Global North?” says Musho. “We should have African solutions for African problems.” Many activists are finding hope in growing calls for transnational solidarity. An incredible ecosystem of activism, mutual aid, and care has also been strengthened and, in some cases, emerged since Dobbs: for example, abortion activists in the U.S. and Mexico have been collaborating, holding strategy meetings together, and even mailing abortion pills across the border. Palmeiro, in Argentina, hopes this transnational solidarity is the future—across all issues that impact women. “Women of the world are under the attack of the same reactionary forces,” she said. “We need to articulate a global self-defense. The defense of our reproductive rights needs to be also the defense of…our rights as workers, especially in the context of a debt crisis that affects poor countries in particular.” Musho agrees, citing the Maputo Protocol—a human rights charter created in 2005 as an important tool to hold the African Union accountable for women’s rights. “It’s so important that we secure our own rights, so we remain unshaken,” she says. “We must learn to stand in solidarity with each other without being destroyed in the process.”  Lori Adelman is Vice President, Influence and Engagement at Global Fund for Women and co-host of the feminist podcast Cringewatchers. Lori previously ran Feministing, an independent blog founded in 2004, and has worked at international NGOs including Planned Parenthood Global, Women Deliver, the United Nations Foundation, the International Women’s Health Coalition, and Human Rights Watch.  Will we see you there?  Pop quiz answer: both these shortages could be avoided if forced birth was not the new norm. Now forward this newsletter to a friend and see if they got the answer right. FOLLOW THE METEOR    Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Sign up for your own copy, sent Wednesdays and Saturdays.
|
