Safe Abortion in Asia Making it work

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Safe Abortion in AsiaMaking it work !

• Dr S P Choong, MB,ChB. FCA.
• Chair, Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP)

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• Abortion in our name , Why use abortion?
• Why not!!!
• 35 yrs after Roe vs Wade.
• 15 yrs since ICPD in Cairo
• 20 yrs since RU-486 discovered
• 30yrs since approval of MVA,
• 40yrs since the Pill and the IUCD.
• When are we going to make it work??

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• Every day thousands of Asian women, driven by
  desperation, poverty and social stigma, seek help
  from unskilled providers to end unplanned
  pregnancies.
• Every day more than 100 such women, often young
  girls, die as a result. Tens of thousands more
  suffer life-long disabilities.
• In Asia, unsafe abortion accounts for 12 percent
  of all maternal, or pregnancy-related, deaths and
  claims the lives of 38,000 women each year,
  according to the World Health Organization.
• Why is this situation not considered CRIMINAL
• NEGLIGENCE?

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• Restrictive abortion laws and exclusion of safe
  abortion services in health programs by
  governments threaten the health and lives of tens
  of thousands of women every year.
• Many NGOs supporting womens health programs
  continue to ignore the critical importance of
  abortion services.
• World opinion now considers such restrictions and
  exclusions as serious violations of human rights!
  
• (ref CEDAW, ICPD, MDGs under the UN,
  Human Rights Watch, European Court of Human
  Rights.)
• While some backward nations are still debating
  about de-crimnializing abortions the, world
  community is now seriously working to criminalise
  abortion bans/restrictions!!

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ASAPmaking a difference

• Established a googlegroup to disseminate updated
  technical information / regular news on
  abortion-related issues globally.
• Expanding our network and experience through
  international and regional conferences and
  workshops.
• Strategic mapping and pooling of existing
  resources.
• Capacity building for members to develop advocacy
  strategies and action plans

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• Identifying advocacy opportunities and
  encouraging strategic interventions.
• Strengthening the documentation of issues related
  to safe abortion in Asia by conducting local
  studies.
• Liaison with partners on a regular basis through
  the website and e-group.
• Setting up a peer to peer support to the
  providers who are new to the method of medical
  abortion.

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Our organisational brochure
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Our Website www.asap-asia.org
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Some highlights..
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1. Research A qualitative survey of Legal
Professionals

• The qualitative multi-country research study on
  knowledge, attitudes and understanding of legal
  professionals with regard to safe abortion as a
  womens right.
• Initiated in July 2008 and recently concluded in
  7 countries (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia,
  Philippines, Malaysia, Sri Lanka) through local
  partners.

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Legal Professionals do we know what they think?

• To appreciate the differences in knowledge,
  attitudes and understanding among legal
  professionals and law enforcement officials
  towards womens rights to safe and legal abortion
  in countries with differing laws on abortion.
•  To prepare strategies for advocacy to improve
  abortion access in those countries where it is
  legal.
•  To create a more conducive legal environment to
  support safe abortion services for women in
  countries where abortion laws are restrictive.

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2. Workshop Understanding Safe Abortion as a
Right Defining our Position

• A three day workshop was held in March in Mumbai
  with 22
• participants from 8 countries of Asia- Pacific
  region.
• The aim of the workshop was
• To better understand the human rights framework
  for the advocacy activities in the field of
  womens rights and
• To develop skills for the designing of advocacy
  messages placing safe abortion in the context of
  those rights.
• Moving advocacy from health needs to ethics and
  human rights advocacy.

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3. Linking-up Regionally and GloballyAn
International e-forum

• We have an International e-forum
  (http//groups.google.com/group/asap-asia?hlen)
• The postings on this e-forum are the discussions
  and updates related to technical, policy,
  programmatic issues of Safe Abortion in Asia and
  Globally.
• This googlegroup has had over 200 postings with
  82 members on the list so far.
• Breaking local advocates out of isolation,
  developing more confidence through a more
  cohesive e-community.

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4. Socialising Abortion Helpline for medical
abortion

• A proposal to train sympathetic counselors from
  the local community to provide information on MA
  and linking them to approved providers. Thus -
• Creating community access to Medical Abortion
  through telephone counseling.
• Linking potential abortion seekers to friendly
  confidential service providers and backup
  services.
• Reduce doctor dependency and clinic resources by
  encouraging self medication at home.
• Remove the social stigma (in the long term)

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Helpline for medical abortion..

• Remove the social stigma (in the long term)
• Reduce doctor dependency and strain on clinical
  services.
• Empower women by instilling knowledge for
  self-help, enabling them to act as decision
  makers.
• To de-medicalise and socialize the abortion
  services through better education, communication
  and application of new technology.

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Conclusions

• Safe abortion advocates in Asia are still
  operating in relative isolation in their
  countries. Regional networking is needed to
  increase their strength and capacity and to
  generate more confidence in their work.
• The ideological position taken by advocates is
  still rather diffuse and diverse. Understanding
  and adopting a common platform based on human
  rights in the abortion debate will enable us to
  take a more assertive and aggressive position..

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Continued.

• 3. The taboo associated with any discussion on
  abortion has to be eradicated.
• Collecting and exposing more local data on
  abortion situations at all discussions on
  policies
• Generate more debates on abortion in relation to
  women's rights or health.
• This will eventually remove the paralyzing social
  stigma of abortion.

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Continued

• 4. The full potential offered by newer medical
  technology like MA and MVA is still far from
  being realized.
• Creative re-organization of existing services is
  needed to socialize abortion services to
  involve the para medics and community leaders and
  to reduce doctor dependency.
• Ultimately, this socialization will also help to
  de-stigmatize the issue leading to universal
  access.

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• 5. Educating all women on DIY methods of
  abortion is needed to enable them to make their
  own decisions on their reproductive health.
• This will translate into greater confidence in
  women eventually empowering them to play a bigger
  role as decision makers.

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• Together,
• we can make it WORK!
• Thank you