On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a shameful decision, Roe v. Wade, the nearly 50-year-old landmark decision recognizing the federal constitutional right to abortion. This decision is an unprecedented attack on women`s rights and reproductive freedom, and the impact will be immediate and far-reaching. Anti-abortion policymakers have already spent decades enacting a patchwork of state-level abortion bans as part of their strategy to put abortion access out of reach. But we know they will go further: politicians and anti-abortion advocates are ready to push for a national abortion ban whenever they get the chance. As a result, people across the country could be forced to stay pregnant against their will and lose control of their own bodies and futures. The prisoners of Unit 731 were forced to become pregnant for experiments. [1] Forced pregnancies, including forced pregnancies of young girls, are a problem throughout Latin America.
Forced pregnancy is defined as a woman or girl becoming pregnant without seeking or wanting to, and abortion is denied, hindered, delayed or made more difficult. We urge States to legalize abortion, as a matter of urgency in cases of sexual violence against minors, and to conduct strategic litigation before national and regional human rights bodies. Below is an overview of some of the 25+ pending litigation the ACLU is currently conducting across the country. Laws that prevent people from making their own decisions about whether to continue a pregnancy or an abortion equivalent to a forced pregnancy. Outright banning abortion isn`t the only way to force pregnancy — even if Roe v. Wade was still technically intact, laws pushed abortion out of reach across the country. The long-term consequences are that if abortion is illegal or inaccessible, young girls` lives are often endangered by clandestine abortions or childbirth. Because they are so young, most are not physically or emotionally mature enough to carry a pregnancy to term, give birth or become mothers. And yet, without access to safe and legal abortion, they are forced to do so, adding to the damage caused by the sexual violence they have already suffered. Forced pregnancy is a serious violation of sexual and reproductive rights and autonomy that can cause serious physical and psychological harm and often has lasting personal, social and economic consequences. In 1998, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC Statute) became the first international instrument to explicitly list forced pregnancies as crimes against humanity and war crimes. Amnesty International has prepared this commentary on the crime of forced pregnancy under the ICC Statute as part of its ongoing work to promote sexual and reproductive rights and effective remedies for victims/survivors.
Rape, sexual slavery and related acts, including forced pregnancy and sexual slavery, are now recognized by the Geneva Convention as crimes against humanity and war crimes; [4] In particular, from 1949, Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and later the 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 expressly prohibited rape during war and forced prostitution. The Rome Statute Explanatory Memorandum, which defines the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, recognizes rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution and forced pregnancy as crimes against humanity when they are part of a widespread or systematic practice. [5] [6] CEDAW and CRC have identified forced pregnancy as a harmful practice that seriously affects girls` rights. Forced pregnancy is the practice of forcing a woman to become or remain pregnant against her will, often as part of a forced marriage, or as part of a slave breeding program, or as part of a genocidal program. Forced pregnancy is a form of reproductive coercion. Forced pregnancies affect anyone seeking reproductive and physical freedom, but not everyone is equally affected when abortion is banned or put out of reach. The burden hits those hardest hit by systemic racism and discrimination in this country, including people of color, undocumented migrants, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people, as well as youth, people with low incomes, or living in rural areas. The fight against these laws is essential to the fight for racial, economic and gender justice. We also call on governments to monitor statistics on girls under the age of 15 who are forced to give birth. This will support our calls for public policies that create adequate means and services to eliminate sexual violence against girls and forced child pregnancy, including sexuality education and access to safe and legal abortions. Together with local and regional partners, Equality Now works to raise awareness about forced pregnancy in Latin America.
Bride abduction and forced marriage practices generally include (with the exception of purely symbolic “bride abductions”, which are in fact consensual runaways) the rape of the “bride” with the intention of forcing her to become pregnant, putting her in a position where she becomes dependent on the rapist and her family, and unable to return to her own family due to cultural attitudes towards rape. [2] In the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan, thousands of girls and women are abducted every year for forced marriage. Although the practice was banned in 2013, bride abductions continue to occur with devastating consequences for society. It is often seen as a tradition that is seen as evidence of what to do when the man is ready to get married. [3] The ACLU is fighting against abortion bans in state and federal courts across the country to stem the tide of attacks on abortion and protect access to basic care. Our struggle will continue until we can end laws that force people to carry their pregnancies to term against their will and deny them the fundamental right to control their own bodies. “There was no option for me. I knew what kind of future I wanted, and I knew I had to have an abortion to get there. And I don`t feel bad about it. Some of these pregnancies are caused by lack of sex education, access to contraceptives or mistakes, but many of them, especially among young girls, are caused by sexual violence, often perpetrated by parents or acquaintances. Get the latest news, in-depth stories, and meaningful actions you can take in the national struggle for reproductive freedom — and more — straight to your inbox and phone. The UN Human Rights Council has recognized that denying abortion in rape cases causes such psychological and physical trauma that it may amount to torture under international law.
Shortly after Roe introduced abortion rights, politicians rushed to undermine the historic decision by passing increasingly cruel restrictions on abortion — including laws that prevent people from using their insurance to cover abortion care, postpone foster care for a while, require parental consent for youth and impose medically unnecessary restrictions. that increase the cost of abortion or force clinics to close completely. These laws are part of a larger plan to ban abortion from state to state and ultimately nationwide. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has characterized rape as genocide if it is used systematically or on a large scale to destroy a people; later, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia also classified rape as a crime against humanity. In 2008, UN Security Council Resolution 1820 identified these acts as “war crimes, crimes against humanity or. Genocide.” [7] Despite these measures, rape, whether systematic or not, remains widespread in conflict zones. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, but the ACLU will never stop fighting for a person`s right to decide when and if they want to have a child. Now more than ever, we need your help. Please sign our pledge to commit to defending abortion rights and taking other action.