Sweden’s women’s organizations protest against removing woman in abortion law

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The government’s investigation proposes that the word “woman” be replaced by “the pregnant” in the abortion law.

The mission was to modernize the law.

“I turn to the fact that women are outdated,” says Susannah Sjöberg, secretary general of Sweden’s women’s organizations.

– What we are most is critical of is to replace a woman in the law. The reformulation proposed to reduce women to carriers of a function, says Susannah Sjöberg.

She sees the investigation as part of a larger trend in society where women are replaced with various rewrites, such as uterine carriers.

– It becomes a problem there when you start speaking gender neutrally because you start to invisible the woman’s role in reproduction. The abortion legislation is about women, she says.

Inclusive language

The argument that the government’s special investigators Inga-Maj Andersson highlights for modernizing the language is, among other things, to be more inclusive. This is what Sweden’s women’s organizations believe that they could have done in other ways, for example by adding a section stating which group is included.

– One might wonder if it is inclusive to exclude such a large group as women are.

She compares it to the wording of “violence in close relationship” compared to “men’s violence against women”.

– It is a way to invisible women’s special vulnerability.

The state investigator also proposes that the wording “pregnancy” should be replaced by “pregnancy” and instead of “perform abortion” it should be “abortion”.

Risks with hemabort

The government appointed the investigation in June 2023 and on Tuesday it was handed over to Minister of Health Acko Ankarberg Johansson (KD). In addition to redoing some of the formulations in the legislation, it is also proposed to make it possible to have an abortion in their home.

Although Sweden’s women’s organizations welcome that the old legislation is reviewed, they are worried that abortions are done safely if they are carried out in the home.

– How do you ensure that a violent woman is not forced to swallow the drug?

According to the investigation, anyone who wishes to conduct an abortion should still have to contact an activity specialized in abortion. But according to Sweden’s women’s organizations, care then needs to develop clear routines and strategies to discover if a woman is forced into an abortion.

– Unfortunately, the care that it looks like today is not good enough to discover women. There you need to get better, says Susannah Sjögren and continues:

– It is important to say that abortion rights are a gender -based right. You must not forget that.