Securing Whose Bodies? A Feminist and Critical Analysis of Abortion.

Fig1. Abortion Protest in the U.S(Mint, 2022)

Over 73 million induced abortions take place worldwide each year, half of which are illegal (WHO, 2021). Abortion becomes a critical topic of security to discuss  especially since it is an issue that hasn’t been addressed on a universal scale. The United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS) have grown to dominate the global women’s rights movements. In challenging the traditional state-centric approach to security, I emphasize on the importance of the individual as the referent for security using critical security studies and human security lenses. But it is this concept of ‘human’ that feminist scholars believe is gendered in nature. 

In putting female individuals at the center, their right to abortion gets threatened by various actors including the society and the state. Diverting from mainstream articulation of what constitutes issues of security or national security, I refer to Enloe and everyday violence experienced by individuals. Feminist scholars believe violence is gendered and as Enloe describes it, the personal is political and personal is international (Laura, 2018). With respect to abortion, a woman’s pregnancy doesn’t remain personal, but becomes a focal point in the public and national realm. Their identities are shaped by the roles ascribed to them by the society and the state, where in their bodies they do not belong just to themselves, but are a part of the larger community and identity. As women, the most important role they are expected to play is that of mothers. They are considered bearers or carriers of future generations that would serve the community and the state’s ambitions. 

Threatened by the community, the security of not only the mother and the child are at stake, but so is the family. The stigma around killing of an unborn baby, or pregnancy out of wedlock translate into acts of violence or social exclusion. Pregnancy and abortion also become areas threatened by the state. In legal matters concerning legalizing abortion, controlling population growth, overall health index of the population and the growth of the national economy depend on the decisions that mothers take regarding child birth. Critical theory takes institutions, social power relations and history into account in its analysis (Cox, 2010). In terms of institutions, the state attempts to govern the female bodies belonging to the ‘Nation’. From who they ought to marry to when they give birth, at every step an external actor is involved in the decision making. The masculinist patriarchal state and its structures implement or dominate a hierarchy or framework within which female bodies are inherently embedded. The framework prioritizes the interests of the state, this is what securitization theory works with. Such structures are recognized at international levels as well. 

Post World War 2, several international institutions took up matters and planned their agendas around securing the women and children of the world. Central to such feminist movements were topics on menstrual cycles, hygiene, education etc. Such institutions branched out to post-colonial states, aiming to highlight these issues inherent in what were considered traditions or cultural values of the post-colonial societies. It became another civilizational mission where the white men and women recognized an apparent responsibility of theirs to bring about changes for women in the post-colonial states. Feminist and Critical studies scholars address these narratives that fail to recognize the main concern at hand. Whose bodies are secured at such instances?

Fig2. A demonstrator holds up a placard depicting a crucified woman as people take to the streets to protest against the legislation on abortion after the recent death of a pregnant woman in March 2023, in downtown Warsaw (Politico, 2023)

Furthermore, the issue becomes complicated with religion. In the fight for gaining rights to abortion across the globe, movements are faced by arguments around the religious sentiments and principles that are offended. Since the 1973 Roe V. Wade ruling was overturned in 2022 in the US Supreme court, clergy and members of various religions including Christian and Jewish denominations have filed about 15 lawsuits in eight states, saying abortion bans and restrictions infringe on their faiths(Belluck, 2023). The decisions overturned 50 years of legal protection and paved the way for individual states to curtail or ban abortion rights. Religious faiths and beliefs consider abortion as threats to their ways of living. Vice-versa, the majoritarian faith and anti-abortion movements threaten not only women’s right to abortion but also their health. Women’s decisions to abort are actually based on various reasons, circumstances and realities that would put them at risk of losing their lives and livelihoods(Akhmedjonov, 2023). Many of these reasons include lack of financial resources, problems with partners, not being able to take care of the child because of their employment status, rape cases etc. While the state hopes to reduce the number of abortions by banning abortion completely, it doesn’t result in that. Rather it creates further problems. It puts the health and lives of pregnant women at massive risk, leading to impoverishment, illegal and often dangerous abortions, and social stigmatization. Here we witness both societal pressures and state involvement merge. 

“Free access to abortion doesn’t only mean to be legal, it means to be accessible in a sense that the costs are low and you have enough doctors to practice,” noted Monika Vana, an Austrian MEP from the Green Alternative. “In many member states, access to abortion is getting more and more restricted, even if it’s legal.” (Akhmedjonov et all, 2023)

Across Europe, abortion is only covered by health insurance if it has to be carried out for medical reasons, which is rarely the case (Akhmedjonov et all, 2023). Thus, in many countries, private clinics provide such medical service often at a high price. 

Economic, political, social and medical institutions are central in implementing change as securitizing actors. Even though each of these institutions are interacting, their bases, requirements and unit of analysis vary. On one hand, the society can be a threat to women and unborn children, on the other hand, within the society actors such as non-governmental organizations, medical institutions and economic institutions can become securitizing actors as well. For example, NGO’s can aid women with abortions financially, provide them with i-pills and provide psychological assistance. The state can be a threat to the women in matters of the right to abortion. At the same time, legal, state and scientific institutions can be securitizing actors too. Feminist and critical theories emphasize social power relations and history. In this case putting women’s bodies at the focal point, I argue that women’s decisions on abortion are threatened by society and the state, including various means and actors. The audience may or may not accept their decisions, further affecting their livelihoods. Thus, intersectionality plays an important role in asking the question, whose bodies are we securing? The bodies representing the state's future prospects? Or the bodies identifying with a community? Therefore, the personal becomes public, and the public intervenes in the private realm.

References:

Belluck, Pam. “Religious Freedom Arguments Underpin Wave of Challenges to Abortion Bans.” The New York Times, 5 July 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/06/28/health/abortion-religious-freedom.html.

Akhmedjonov, Akmaljon, et al. “Europe’s Growing Abortion Nightmare.” POLITICO, 1 July 2023, www.politico.eu/article/europes-growing-abortion-nightmare.

Sjoberg, Laura, (ed.), 2010, Gender and International Security: Feminist Perspectives, Routledge: Abingdon 

Lundberg, Johanna. "ABORTION AND HUMAN SECURITY." https://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=2796685&fileOId=2796688 

Robert Cox. 2010. Robert Cox on World Orders, Historical Change and Purpose of Theory in International Relations. Theory Talks #37. E-IR. http://www.theory-talks.org/2010/03/theory-talk-37.html

Shepherd, Laura J. 2009. ‘Gender, Violence and Global Politics: Contemporary Debates in Feminist Security Studies’. Political Studies Review 7 (2): 208–19.

Sjoberg, Laura. 2018. “Feminist Security and Security Studies.” InThe Oxford Handbook of International Security, edited by Alexandra Gheciu and William Curti Wohlforth. The Oxford Handbooks of International Relations. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

Mint. “The US Abortion Ruling Is a Blow to Women’s Rights Everywhere | Mint.” Mint, 28 June 2022, www.livemint.com/opinion/online-views/the-us-abortion-ruling-is-a-blow-to-women-s-rights-everywhere-11656348633111.html.