# Abortion rights:  What global setbacks?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-rights-what-global-setbacks/242124>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 26, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-rights-what-global-setbacks/242124 "2004-04-26T17:32:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-rights-what-global-setbacks/242124/1 "2004-04-26T17:32:41Z")

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An article in today’s L.A. Times described the large pro-choice rally that took place in Washington over the weekend. The link is [here](http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-rally26_apr26,1,2720625.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage), though I warn you, here be popups galore. You may also have to register to see it, but it’s free for a few days. The headline of the article is

Abortion Rights Marchers Decry Global Setbacks

but I can’t think of any “setbacks” anywhere but in the U.S. Before going any farther, I am pro-choice, and I’m aware of the partial birth abortion ban that was enacted in this country recently. Many pro-choice advocates consider that a major setback, using a thin-edge-of-the-wedge argument. I don’t agree with that, not considering such a late-term abortion to be the type of procedure that was meant to be covered by Roe v. Wade. On the other hand, I realize that R.v.W. is in a somewhat precarious position should Bush be reelected, and existing liberal justices retire over the next few years.

And the article wasn’t much help. I really can’t find any relevant passages to quote. What am I missing? Aside from places like Iraq, which may soon find itself living under a theocracy, where is there the prospect of a retrenchment in abortion rights?

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**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-rights-what-global-setbacks/242124/2 "2004-04-27T17:01:24Z")

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Could be a reference to the fact that the US withdrew funding from women’s health and family planning clinics that discuss abortion as an option (even if they themselves don’t offer it), even in countries where abortion is legal.

It has been argued that this has forced several of these clinics to close, leaving women in rural third world countires with no reproductive healthcare, and possible no primary healthcare at all.

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**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-rights-what-global-setbacks/242124/3 "2004-04-27T17:14:20Z")

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This is the what **irishgirl** is talking about.

[US exports anti-abortion policy](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3028820.stm)

> [@](#):
>
> Hundreds of women’s health organisations in the poorest nations of the world - places where maternal mortality and infant death are high - faced a tough choice. Either sign the gag rule and be silenced on abortion, or refuse and lose millions of dollars in US aid.
> 
> Most refused to sign. As a result, thousands of family planning clinics across the developing world have closed their doors, making access to vital contraceptives hard to come by.