#prochoixnb

Ideally, Zika might bring about an overdue series of political epiphanies: hey, the unpredictability of mosquito bites is like the unpredictability of life itself. That’s why abortion rights should be universal, right? It’s not impossible; as Sarah Zhang pointed out in WIRED last week, a rubella epidemic that required “therapeutic” abortions helped set the stage for Roe and the legalization of abortion back in the middle of the last century. Remember this spring when GOP candidates practically vaulted over each other, thumping their chests, to proclaim their enmity for Planned Parenthood and disapproval of abortion? That would look quite callous in the face of a nationwide health crisis, and might conceivably at least change the tone of the conversation. But some of the activists I spoke to weren’t sure that that kind of awakening is possible in today’s Ted Cruz-friendly climate. They instead compared this potential outbreak to the early years of HIV/AIDS, in which (as has happened already in Central and South America) social prejudice hindered effective treatment. When the disease does arrive, it may demonstrate that the “Catch-44” Herold describes isn’t limited to other countries. While privileged women like me huddle near air conditioners with our windows shut, Zika could easily entrap American women in areas with standing water that breeds mosquitoes, closed clinics, no access to the later abortions a microcephaly diagnosis might require, and a patchwork system of healthcare.

Abortion for black women has always been a revolutionary rejection of patriarchy, white supremacy and forced systems of oppression. The great scholars Patricia Hill Collins and Angela Davis have explained that throughout slavery and into the 20th century, self-abortion through herbal remedies, hangers, hatpins and pencils were a way out of slavery and poverty. Our ancestors fought hard to refuse to carry the children of their master rapists and rear another generation of slaves, even when it meant that “barren” women were deemed worthless chattel and sold between plantations. From generation to generation, stories and recipes were passed down to ensure that women weren’t forced to carry pregnancies they never desired or weren’t able to carry healthily. For as many powerful women that raised children in the worst conditions imaginable, so there were those who refused.

“These ‘feticide’ laws are being used to punish the pregnant women they purport to protect, and will only discourage those who need medical care from seeking help, putting women and their babies at greater risk. “What we are seeing in the US should serve as a warning to those who support reproductive rights in the UK. Ending a pregnancy remains a criminal offence in British law that carries a potential twelve-year prison term if the grounds of the 1967 Abortion Act are not met. “This means that a woman who buys abortion pills online could be incarcerated. Women need access to high quality reproductive healthcare services and support. In the 21st century, their personal decisions about whether to continue or end a pregnancy do not belong in the criminal law.”