Women Don’t Want Abortions
October 2012, Ireland. 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar, 17 weeks pregnant with her first child, is admitted to University Hospital Galway. She reports intense pain that she describes as “something coming down." Her doctors explain that a miscarriage is inevitable but refuse her request for an abortion because there’s only a “theoretical risk” of infection.
Sativa is forced to wait three days, in excruciating pain, until she miscarries naturally. By this time, her condition has progressed to severe sepsis and multiple organ failure. She dies of cardiac arrest three days later.
February 2019, Argentina. An 11-year-old girl identified only as “Lucia” pleads with Argentinian authorities to allow her to terminate her pregnancy after her grandmother’s 65-year-old partner raped her. “I want this thing the old man put inside me taken out,” she tells them.
Argentinian law permits abortion in the case of rape. But due to questions about her guardianship and several doctors refusing to perform the termination due to “personal beliefs,” Lucia has to fight for almost two months before her request is granted. The delays push Lucia’s pregnancy into the second trimester, forcing her to undergo a Caesarean section as the procedure can no longer be carried out vaginally. The baby dies…
