Women in sub-Saharan Africa face one of the highest rates of unsafe abortion in the world.

77% of abortions in sub-Saharan Africa were deemed unsafe from 2010 to 2014, compared to a global percentage of about 45%.

Global: From 2015 to 2019, there was an estimated 121 million unintended pregnancies each year. About 73.3 million (or about 61%) of these pregnancies ended in abortion.

We, as a people, need to stand up for women's reproductive rights. Denying safe and legal access to abortion only leads women to seek abortion via other methods. An unsafe abortion is defined as an abortion performed by an unqualified person, using non-recommended methods, or both. Unsafe abortions can have detrimental life-long effects on a woman's physical and mental health.

Abortion bans do not prevent or lower the rate of abortion — they only create unsafe abortions and result in the deaths of thousands of women each year. There is no medical reason abortions should be unsafe.

There are a plethora of traditional methods for abortion — many of which are harmful, ineffective, or both. Some traditional methods include:

• Inserting a sharp object (such as a coat hanger or stick) into the cervix;
• Drinking or inserting bleach, other chemicals, or herbal remedies;
• Ingesting or inserting large amounts of pharmaceuticals not meant for abortions;
• Blunt force to the abdomen.

Abortion bans violate human rights. The UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

• Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
• Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.
• Article 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

This petition is primarily to bring awareness to the violation of human rights happening not only in sub-Saharan Africa, but also many other regions of the world. I feel it is especially important to raise this issue as women in the United States are losing reproductive rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year. Instead of moving closer toward equal rights between sexes, parts of the U.S. are (re-)implementing abortion bans, causing thousands of women to fear accidental pregnancies even more than before. 

It is my belief that everyone deserves to have agency over their own body, especially regarding something as life-changing as pregnancy. Additionally, forcing women to give birth to and/or raise unwanted children is immoral. Not only might it harm the mother's emotional or physical health, but the child might also grow up with the emotional damage of knowing they were unwanted. 

To begin fighting this injustice, we must bring awareness to the dangers women face regarding unsafe and illegal abortions. Silence perpetuates the cycle. Please help this cause by learning more about abortion access issues locally or globally, sharing and signing petitions, and being an advocate for women's rights. 

We all deserve a choice. 

References and more information: 

1. https://www.guttmacher.org/report/from-unsafe-to-safe-abortion-in-subsaharan-africa#1-introduction
2. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights 
3. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-015-1502-2
4. https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijgo.14032
5. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(19)30267-0/fulltext
6. https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/8/e007226
7. https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/state-policies-later-abortions
8. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(20)30315-6/fulltext

Image Link & Attribution: DFID - UK Department for International Development, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0> via Wikimedia Commons