Helen Clark: BBC interview on repeal of Roe vs Wade

BBC interview by Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, PMNCH Board Chair, on her reflections in relation to the repeal of Roe vs Wade in the United States.

Interview starts at 41:43.

Transcription

Presenter (P): Dust settles on the US Supreme Court decision to remove the constitutional right to an abortion in America. Politicians across the spectrum have stepped forward to outline how the political stakes have changed, and what comes next. The procedure is now illegal in 22 states, but the decision could extend way beyond US borders. One of those who has concerns is Helen Clark, the former New Zealand Prime Minister and now the Border Chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

Welcome to Newsday.

First of all, your reaction to the US Supreme Court decision.

Helen Clark (HC): Like women around the world deeply shocked by what has happened, to think that you could get this role back in the United States of America, a democratic country, is simply extraordinary and well so many of us are very very shocked.

P: And well indeed a democratic country in the Supreme Court has said that the decision is down to the democratically elected legislators of American states.

HC: Well, they have pushed it down there, but there you have those states, about half the states in the United States of America, are denying women and girls the right to choose an abortion and that is a fundamental right, that is now being denied. The concern is that the repercussions of this will roll around the world and embolden those in other countries who also seek to deny women and girls this right.

P: Do you think this will undermine the argument that many people have had around the world to push for the right to have an abortion because of its rollback in America.

HC: For sure it will encourage the opponents of abortion everywhere. Abortion is defined by the World Health Organization as an essential service, and it is. We also know that there is a lot of unsafe abortion around the world. What we need is safe and legal abortion. Now unfortunately in the 26 states of the US which want to criminalize abortion, they are condemning women to unsafe abortion and almost certainly more maternal deaths. 

You know, I'm of an age that can remember when abortion was very difficult to get in my own country, and in New Zealand I personally knew someone who died of an unsafe abortion. This is the fight that faces women in the United States now and it's a fate that already around the world too many women are suffering.

P: When you say that other countries could rollback abortion rights or services are there particular nations or parts of the world that you are most concerned about?

HC: Well, there are parts of the world many parts of the world which don't now have safe and legal abortion for women and so they're forced into the unsafe abortions in Africa and Latin America; it's estimated that three out of four abortions are unsafe abortion.s and worldwide 13%. 13 percent of maternal deaths come from unsafe abortions. So, what I think it does is not necessarily make it any worse than those countries - it's bad now  - but it puts back the cause of reform to make this essential service, one that women and girls everywhere can have access to.

P: So, what can you and others do then what safeguards perhaps could you put in place or try to put in place to ensure that that doesn't happen?

HC: I think in the United States of America itself, there will be the option of going to Canada, of going to a state in the United States, which does offer abortion, but of course for poor and marginalized and young woman, too, that's not so much of an option, and also in these states which are criminalizing, they're criminalizing anyone who aids in and abets an abortion.

Now, how will jurisprudence on that develop? Well, it means that if you support a poor woman or girl to get a bus fare to another state, are you aiding and abetting an abortion? Probably you are, so this makes it very very difficult.

P: And, if you put that into a broader context do you see this as part of a rolling back of women's rights more broadly.

HC: Yes, there is a pushback on women's rights and I think it's because women have been moving forward, but not everybody finds that very attractive because it truths on old established power relationships, and so at the time of progress you also get the time of tremendous pushback, and unfortunately an American Supreme Court, obviously now loaded up with conservatives, has taken advantage of the opportunity to push back heavily on women's rights.

P: So, do you see this as a, or bit, significant bump in the road on the march of progress, or are you are you deeply concerned about this or what it perhaps means?

HC: It's a major bump in the road, but of course it won't be the end of the story because women and girls will rally and they male allies will rally, so we have to keep pushing forward but note that this is a significant setback, as of now, for women and girls in the United States with global implications which obstruct reform.

P: Helen Clark. Thank you, Helen, is the former Prime Minister of New Zealand and now the Chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.