Berer, Marge. “Abortion Law and Policy around the World: In Search of Decriminalization.” Health and Human Rights. U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 2017.
Marge Berer is an international coordinator of the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion, London, UK, and was the editor of Reproductive Health Matters. “Abortion Law and Policy Around the World” by Marge Berer is a journal that emphasizes the need to decriminalize abortion in order to protect the rights and health of women. The journal looks at how abortion laws stand now in various nations, with a focus on those that outlaw the procedure or severely restrict access to it. Criminalizing abortion, according to Berer, does not stop it from occurring; rather, it pushes it underground and makes it riskier, endangering the lives of women. She is a supporter of a human rights-based strategy for abortion that acknowledges women’s autonomy and agency in making choices about their own bodies and lives. This article is helpful towards my topic because the article emphasizes the urgent need for global action to decriminalize abortion and ensure that all women have access to safe and legal abortion services.
- “It should be clear that the plethora of convoluted laws and restrictions on abortion do not make any legal or public health sense. What makes abortion safe is simple and irrefutable—when it is available on the woman’s request and universally affordable and accessible.” (Berer)
- “Thus, the availability of safe abortion depends not only on permissive legislation but also on a permissive environment, political support, and the ability and willingness of health services and health professionals to make abortion available.” (Berer)
