On “reproductive health,” an expression that, in the language of international organizations, has become synonymous with the freedom to have abortions at whim, a change of cultural approach based on scientific data is not impossible. As a result, even the semantic value of terms currently used as a picklock to promote and impose markedly anti-natalist legislation around the world could be changed.
In part, it depends on the reception of a 2015 study, recently returned to the attention of the media, which stated that according to data from the 32 states that make up the federal republic of Mexico, it turns out that the more restrictive the laws on pregnancy termination, the lower the mortality rate for women. The research, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), was conducted by Instituto Melisa, in collaboration with a number of US, Mexican and Chilean universities.
Obviously, a prohibition is not enough to lengthen and improve the earthly existence of nursing mothers if at the same time a system of maternity protections is not created. In fact, it appears that in the decade of 2002–2011, which the researchers looked into, in the states where laws were most permissive, family policies, literacy levels, and environmental conditions were simultaneously deficient, and violence against women was particularly prevalent.
The World Health Organization claims that 39,000 women die each year from the consequences of 25 million illegal abortions in countries where the procedure is banned, which is 26 countries around the globe. In the face of at least an equal level of concern for the slaughter of the innocent, the call for awareness of the 0.156% of mothers who died after getting rid of the child they were carrying would be credible if one considered that the Maternal Mortality Ratio estimated for 2017 indicates a higher rate of 0.211% of postpartum mortality.
If these figures really do not justify an emergency concerning the health conditions of those who risk their lives to have children rather than to eliminate them, at the very least they highlight the need to introduce reforms in many areas to protect the right to life for all.
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