According to UN experts, several US states are using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to deny women access to abortions. Eight states called for coronavirus emergency orders to suspend medical treatment that is not immediately necessary to limit access to abortion, the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls said today. These are Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
The independent UN legal experts condemned the fact that the affected states, which had long been campaigning against the right to have an abortion, „seemingly use the crisis to severely restrict women’s reproductive rights,“ said group vice-chairwoman Elizabeth Broderick. During the crisis, abortions in these states were made impossible or delayed until the legal timeframe for abortions was exceeded.
Women are now partially forced to leave their state for the procedure, putting their own health at risk in the face of the pandemic, and disregarding health agency guidelines. Abortion was part of “basic health care” and should be accessible even during the crisis, Broderick said.
