A pole was taken in Venezuela concerning the issue of abortion and violence in relationships. More people said they were against an abortion within a relationship more so than they were opposed to violence in relationships. This is not only a result of the influence of religion since the revolution but also shows how little women have gained since the revolution began. Although women are involved in Venezuelan politics, progress being made for women's rights is surprisingly slow. Women are encouraged to do the same things as men and have the same jobs as men but gender roles still apply when it comes to cooking and cleaning and so on. However, nothing has been done to protect women's sexual rights. Women's bodies are still largely believed to be owned by either a man or the public when it comes to certain issues. This means that when a woman is pregnant her needs come secondary to the fetus inside of her. The church, the state, and the penal code are allowed to do whatever they want with a woman's body as long as she is pregnant. Because of this, abortion has become a huge issue in Venezuela. People tend to ignore the rights of a mother and focus on the fetus. In Venezuela, a woman is allowed to get an abortion only in the case that the pregnancy is a health risk to the mother. This law does not allow abortion if the woman is raped, if the fetus has birth defects, or even if the mother cannot afford to take care of the child herself. Because of financial instability the child is not growing up in a proper environment, is not receiving the health care it needs, and is not getting the proper education. Another growing problem in Venezuela is single mothers. Over 50% of all mothers in Venezuela are raising a child on their own due to abandonment by the father. Because of these restrictions on women's healthcare, more illegal abortions are being performed now than ever before in Venezuela. If a woman is caught getting an abortion she can serve up to two years in prison. This isn't even the worst punishment a woman can experience for her last resort. Social condemnation, secrecy, illegality, monetary costs and health issues are just a few of the things a woman can face for getting an illegal "back alley" abortion. Because of the risk doctors take given these abortions, they will charge up to 3 months salary for just one abortion and women will still pay it because they are so desperate. According to a study done by the University of Venezuela, 16% of maternal deaths are caused by complications due to botched abortions. Feminist leader Gioconda Mata is trying desperately to get abortion legalized to prevent deaths like this from happening.
The first thing that came to mind while reading this article was a quote by Samantha Bee; "So...My rights end where my uterus begins?" The revolution in Venezuela was supposed to allow the nation to become a more free nation with more rights. Clearly they have only come so far. Women are still being treated like objects and not being treated equal to a men, but this is evident in almost every country. If men were the ones that had to endure a rape and an unwanted pregnancy then I can assure you that they would have the right to an abortion, but this is not the case. A lot of people in Venezuela believe that this is not an issue but clearly it is when so many women are being affected by it. Many say that women should still be forced to go through with the pregnancy because they can always put it up for adoption. However they do not take into account the medical expenses that you are charged with for prenatal care and the birth itself. Just the cost of prenatal care and hospital visits can add up to $17,000 depending on if you have health insurance or not. If you weren't prepared to have a baby in the first place then how are you supposed afford actually being pregnant. The church has been a huge influence on sexual health. And while Venezuela has taken more action to educate young adults and teens about safe sex and abstinence, unplanned pregnancies are still going to happen. Abortion is not the main source of birth control for women as many seem to believe it is. Abortion is a last result and no one wants to endure that kind of physical and mental stress but unfortunately it's necessary in some cases and these women should have the ability if, god forbid, they need it. Venezuelan feminists are fighting for equal rights as human being. They are trying to get these laws for abortion passed so that mothers will not have to suffer because they don't have the ability to make a choice for themselves.
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/7249
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