Sian Norris meets the feminists taking to the streets.
Abortion has been legal in Romania since the fall of Ceausescu. Under his rule, itβs estimated 10,000 women died as a result of so-called illegal abortions. For post-communist Romania, legalising abortion was seen as a way to move forward from the horrors of the dictatorship [β¦]
But how credible are the threats to abortion rights in Romania? To measure that, you need to understand the power of the Orthodox Church and the Coalition for Family. Last year, the latter managed to secure a 3 million strong petition to permanently ban same-sex marriage via the constitution. As a result of the petition, all major political parties agreed to consider the change. This is not a fringe group.
At the same time, the Orthodox Church has declared war on sex education - something which is key to womenβs reproductive health, equality, and in reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies. The churchβs influence has made it very difficult to teach women and men about their options when it comes to sexual health and reproductive rights. And while comprehensive sex education is therefore rare, church-backed organisations like Pro Vita are going into schools to teach an anti-abortion message.
βReligion is very embedded in Romanian societyβ Ilisei explained to me. βNearly 90 per cent of Romanians declare themselves Christian Orthodox and the Church is very powerful. If they tell their congregation that sex education will corrupt their children, then parents arenβt going to give permission for it to be taught. But we all know education and access to contraception is vital to improving womenβs rights. I agree we need to minimise the number of terminations. But we canβt do that unless we have sex education.β
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