This isn’t a woman’s issue, it’s a human rights issue.

*Trigger warning - trauma, abuse and rape are mentioned*

I will always stand by OUR BODY, OUR CHOICE and every human, regardless of sex, should have control over their own body.

Being a woman is a gift and the anger, pain and heartbreak we feel as a collective is necessary to evoke change. This is OUR time.

I am Arla has opened my eyes to the depths of trauma young girls and women experience after rape and it’s harrowing. And to think they a law will now force them to have pregnancies after rape truly breaks my heart.

Just think about it for a minute.. this law is forcing young girls and women to have pregnancies from rape, incest, to bring a child into an abusive relationship, to risk death if they are not allowed to abort when it is an unsafe pregnancy and to not have a choice! Our bodies, our choice! Let’s be clear on this, abortions will still happen, they will just be illegal and unsafe.

This law has only banned safe abortions.

5-7 million women are hospitalised every year due to unsafe abortions around the world and around 60 thousand women die every year! There is no aftercare in place, no funding from governments for women who are traumatised. No help, no support, no therapy.

The focus should be on making it mandatory for schools to provide better sex education - how to have safe sex, what are natural birth control methods (not harmful pills), understanding the reproductive system and ovulation, education on periods and providing useful information for women’s wellbeing. This includes holistic health practices, nutrition, education on how to have healthy relationships. There also needs to be more done to put an end to sexual violence - i.e. stricter laws! They need to do better.

Education is power, and education is how you take back control.

This isn’t a woman’s issue, it’s a human rights issue.