Iraq Violence Leading to Abortions

From ABC News courtesy of AlterNet:

Pregnant Iraqi women who have been forced from their homes by worsening violence are obtaining illegal abortions because they are unable to get medical care for themselves and their unborn, according to a new report by a national humanitarian group.

A record number of Iraqis -- most of them women and children -- are fleeing their homes to escape the bloodshed of sectarian violence and anti-U.S. attacks, according to a new report by the Iraqi Red Crescent organization, the largest aid group operating in Iraq.

Health care is inadequate and difficult to access for those people, according to the IRC report.

"Pregnant women, infants and children are unable to get...required medical care," states the report, which was translated from Arabic, "and criminal abortion became [sic] the norms."

More here.

So let me get this straight. The Iraq occupation, which at this point is strongly supported only by the most conservative of American voters, is creating circumstances which are compelling Iraqi women to get illegal back-alley abortions. Those same American voters who want to "stay the course" in Iraq are, for the most part, insanely anti-abortion. Well, I guess if it didn't bother them when we fire-bombed Fallujah, all the dead baby fetuses aren't going to bother them either.

But really, this is extremely disturbing. No, not the fact that Iraqi women are getting abortions, rather, what's so disturbing is that these abortions are neither wanted nor safe. I know that the Iraqi people have suffered unconscionable indignities and violence since the US invasion in 2003, but this moves into slasher movie territory.

And it's our fault.

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