By Mariana González-Márquez |
Guadalajara (Mexico) (EFE) defenders of reproductive rights.
When she was 24 years old, Edith decided to terminate an unplanned pregnancy. The young woman originally from the Mexican city of Guadalajara was studying her degree at that time, she lived with her parents and was not financially independent. A son was not an option.
The young woman told EFE that although she is part of a feminist group that accompanies women who decide to have an abortion, she was immersed in a sea of doubts and conflicting emotions that made her evaluate the possibility of continuing.
“It was as if I forgot all that information and I was left with a feeling of being socially judged. Social expectations also came in, I knew it was my right to interrupt it but I thought, what if I better finish it and become a mom? I am already of age, I have a long and stable relationship, it was a shock, ”she explained.
With the advice and support of her colleagues, she decided that she would not continue with the pregnancy.
The system and homeless women
In Jalisco, as in many other states in Mexico, public services perform curettage for 4 reasons: rape, spontaneous abortion, health risk or risk of losing the life of the woman. If they do not meet these characteristics, women must care for themselves or continue the pregnancy.
The World Health Organization has a protocol for safe abortion using misprostol and mifepristone, medicines that are reliable when taken up to nine weeks of gestation and that allow women to terminate their pregnancy outside of a hospital with a success rate of up to 70%.
Edith chose this option guided by the colleagues of her organization. Accompanied by a couple of friends and her partner, the young woman recalls her experience with some uncertainty but also thanks for the solidarity of those around her.
“They told me what was going to happen, but I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen to my body, I also felt very supported and safe knowing they were there, that whatever could happen they would save me. If she had lived it alone, this uncertainty would have grown, ”she noted.
old taboos
In Mexico, abortion has been legal under certain grounds since 2021 and since then 11 states have allowed legal abortion by decision of the woman up to 12 weeks and one more up to 13 weeks. Since 2007, in Mexico City any woman can safely perform this procedure in free clinics.
Despite this, there is a stigma from society to women who decide not to continue a pregnancy.
Even talking about it feels like something clandestine, like a practice that is only discussed with close and trusted people, Karen, a 33-year-old businesswoman who decided to have an abortion at home in the midst of a pandemic, assured EFE.
“You live clandestinely, you have to do things in secret. There is a moment (of the procedure) when it hurts a lot, I know that the percentage (of risk) is super low, but what to do does cross your mind, that is, if you go to the doctor you have to hide it completely, say that you don’t know what’s happening because it’s not legal” in Mexico, he said.
Karen knew from the first moment that she did not want to have a child and she looked for a way to get the medicine. The process took place in her house, with her partner next to her and with the follow-up of the psychologists of the group she attended. There are no traumas or psychological damage, since the therapy that she has been undergoing for a few years helped with this.
Patricia Ortega, representative of the Network for sexual and reproductive rights in Mexico, an organization that accompanies women who decide to have an abortion safely at home, said that the procedure is not invasive or disabling.
“When there may be an alarm situation, it is because there is some sign of pain or bleeding that is also extreme, and they have to call for a doctor to attend and evaluate her to consider whether it is necessary to resort to a hospital service,” he explained in an interview with EFE. .
A support network
About twenty messages per month from women requesting counseling arrive on the social networks of this organization, only some of them take this option, most have some academic training, are over 21 years of age, have a support network and, mainly, have Information about your reproductive rights.
On the other hand, the women who attend the collective “My friends accompany me” have little information to decide and many taboos, for this reason it is important to follow up on the cases, Dani, one of the members, affirmed in an interview with EFE.
He recognized that there are women who after the abortion do not want accompaniment, while others do want to keep in touch.
“We are for that. When I realize something is going to get out of hand, we do have people to refer them to,” she concluded.