Reflections | Abortion in ancient China with TCM and acupuncture was unreliable – most women resorted to physically injuring themselves, as in one harrowing story
- A pregnant mother whose husband was executed for high treason went to drastic lengths to abort her unborn ‘traitor’s’ child
- The scandal of an unexplained pregnancy would cost women their lives in certain regions of China in the past, often by some form of public lynching
On June 24, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the 1973 Roe vs Wade ruling that recognised an American woman’s constitutional right to an abortion, a landmark ruling that spearheaded the legalisation of the procedure across the US.
Now, it is certain or likely that half of the country’s 50 states will criminalise the intentional termination of a pregnancy.
The pro-choice versus pro-life debate, together with other issues such as the right to bear arms, are so deeply divisive in the United States that the very name of the country has become an oxymoron.
The intensity of these debates and the intractability of the battle lines that are drawn over these issues are aspects of American exceptionalism that the rest of the world can never fully understand.
A harrowing story from China’s past illustrates the pain, both physical and mental, and the desperation suffered by women who wish to terminate their unwanted pregnancies, for any number of reasons.
