Their beliefs are reflected in their work". Writer of comedy + other things: Input Magazine, The A.V. Andrada Cilibiu has her own list of abortion facilities and gynaecologists, but she does not make it public to protect them from harassment by pro-life organisations. As time went by, Kai became increasingly concerned, knowing full well that the legal deadline for an abortion in Romania is fourteen weeks. "It was interminable, the doctor kept saying 'one more minute'". He replied: 'I'll give you the money if you blow me'. Patients' rights simply do not exist". Here, I often feel suffocated and find no one to turn to Education is needed and there is a lack of education", she says, aware of the vicious circle in which Romania has been trapped.

At 17.00, the same. The fall was even steeper after the first wave of Covid-19. "Some hospitals justified themselves by citing the Bible, others told me they wanted to 'raise the birth rate'. The EU does not seem to have the means to tackle the problem either. Club, The Daily Dot, Jezebel, The Takeout, McSweeneys, Reductress, The American Bystander | @IlanaAbby, Five years after Sisis coup: Soul searching, resistance and division, Races in Libya: Question of Peace or Protest in the country, Iraqs re-born civic society delivers clear message to terrorists: Your ideology is not wanted. This sharp decline is due instead to the fact that in Romania it is increasingly difficult to have an abortion. But then the country started taking big steps backwards, and is now accelerating in that direction. "They prefer less educated patients who obediently follow their instructions, and midwives are seen as dangerous because they are on the side of women, not of medical power", says Popescu-Mateescu. Then he put a picture from the ultrasound in her hand. Andrada pointed her to the private clinics and public hospitals where abortion was practised. It was the child's father who wanted them to move there, because Ekaterina's parents lived there. If WORLD leaders wanted this taken care of, they would have long ago when it all started in. "To give you an idea, many in the Ministry of Health do not say 'penis', 'vagina' or 'vulva', because it is taboo. Il tempo necessario per questa operazione pu essere variabile. After growing up in South Africa, she returned to her homeland in 2017 to study veterinary medicine. "In Romania, access to contraception is very limited", confirms Irina Popescu-Mateescu, 38. But I can send you videos to help you on your journey to motherhood. The nurses apologised and finally started paying attention to her. "The gynaecologists on my team do not practise abortions. The person at the other end of the line asked her if this was her first pregnancy and her first abortion, adding: "Unfortunately we can't, because we did it once and the girl died.

The same statistics show that more and more hospitals report zero abortions on their balance sheets. For a country of 20 million people, which has many problems in this area it is simply unacceptable. Romania has around 220 public hospitals with a gynaecology section where women can in principle have abortions. Our team of writers, storytellers, video producers and curators craft compelling stories for a digital-first audience. On Tuesday, Kai arrived at 8 am. But every time something got in the way. According to Eurostat, almost a quarter of all teenage mothers in Europe live in Romania. In Romania, where the Orthodox Church is very powerful, defending the right to abortion means being under severe pressure. Today Ekaterina lives with her mother in a village near Suceava in northern Romania. They have substantial financial resources, thanks to the money sent by their partners based in the United States, Russia, and Western Europe. "Most of those who refuse put forward religious and moral reasons", reports Andrada Cilibiu. When Irna Popescu-Mateescu proposed to the new Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, to allow pharmacological abortion through telemedicine, as happens in France, Germany, or even in Moldova, this trained doctor simply replied: "It is a sin". It was already past 20.00 when finally an intern informed her that the doctor had had an emergency and would not be able to operate until the next day. But sometimes it's a hospital directive, which is illegal. A true symbol. This article was written by colleagues fromLe Courrier des Balkans with the support ofJournalismfund.eu, Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa is a publication registered at the Court of Rovereto n. 256 on 26 May 2004 - Editor in Chief Luca Zanoni, Copyleft 2022 Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa Five months later, she divorced her husband due to his alcoholism problems. A striking example of this development is the Polizu, the largest maternal hospital in Bucharest, which no longer practises abortions More and more gynaecologists and obstetricians are using the "conscience clause" to refuse this operation. Not to mention the extremely high infant mortality and orphanage scandals that made international headlines after the fall of the regime. At her mother's insistence, she ended up marrying him. But first she went to the guy who raped her and told him she was pregnant and she needed money to have an abortion". Kai refused. Andrada Cilibiu never had an abortion, but abortion traumatised several generations of women in her family. "I couldn't finish my studies and my promotion vanished when my superiors found out I was pregnant. "Actions that restrict access to abortion are a form of violence against women", says Andrada Cilibiu. "Was it really that painful? "I will continue to do my best to change things. A friend then advised her to go to the police. More recently, the White House issued an. They prefer to use terms like 'pussy' (pasarica) for girls or 'pea' (cucu, cuculeti, puta) for boys ". Did she regret keeping the baby? This is unacceptable". Dose is the fast-growing media company behind Dose.com and OMGFacts.com. The state forces us to become mothers without our consent". In addition to aggressively lobbying doctors, authorities, and political parties, these pro-life organisations are also very present in the public arena. Kai refused and hung up, but that did not stop her from receiving spam emails with anti-abortion videos. License In 1957, Communist Romania was one of the first countries in the world to legalise abortion. The doctor left the room without speaking to me. Kai stood up and started crying, still in pain. It is a moral choice and in any case they do not want to complicate their lives, because they earn a very good living with other tests and operations. Here in the US, the future of womens reproductive rights is dire. Of the 112 public hospitals contacted, only twelve practised abortions in April 2020, and none in Bucharest. If they are hospitalised, it is passed as a miscarriage that went wrong", adds Andrada Cilibiu. "If anyone asked me what actions I would take against doctors who refuse to perform abortion, I would say that I congratulate them! In fact, in 2011 the Romanian government stopped funding contraception subsidies, making access to birth control much more difficult, and stopped teaching birth control in public schools. On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to defund Planned Parenthood. "I was raped", Kai replied. His pro-natalist goal worked perfectly: within a decade, the number of children per woman doubled, from 1.9 to 3.7. She told the doctor that she was raped and needed to have an abortion as soon as possible. In 2013, Romania had one of the highest abortion rates in the EU (14.9 per 100 births). "My grandmother, who is 100 years old, told me that her mother died of a clandestine abortion in 1938. In Romania "Birth crisis centres" have been set up on the model of the American "Pregnancy crisis centres". Diabetic Cyborg Life 05/22: My Triumph Story. After six months, Irina Popescu-Mateescu was fired, while USR-Plus had to abruptly leave the government. Over three years, there has therefore been a rise from 32% to 54% of public hospitals that do not practise abortions. At this rate, what will the situation be in 2025? Kai counted the seconds in her head before passing out. "When I work in the fields in the villages, I meet women who sometimes already have ten children. But at the same time, some 10,000 women lost their lives and 100,000 were maimed due to clandestine abortions. Last summer she found herself in a young man's apartment after a night in which she and her friends had been drinking. To find a medical facility, the young woman googled "abortion clinic Bucharest" and called the first number. Meanwhile, her rapist had moved to Germany. We are here for you", followed by a phone number. Since then, the midwife has returned to work in a private clinic in Bucharest. She also soon realised that many maternity wards refused to practise abortion. As terrifying as it is, Kai's story is not the only one. This historic Romanian women's rights activist aborted "on the kitchen table" during the Ceausescu era. Under the pressure of the Church and pro-life NGOs and with the complicity of the state women are losing this fundamental right. And that person does nothing except blocking all projects. "At the Ministry of Health, in hospitals, public employees are very religious, it is a reflection of society. The midwife worked from February to September 2021 at the Ministry of Health, when it was headed by Vlad Voiculescu of the USR-Plus. "We have no official figures, but we do know that women have abortions at home. Please select which newsletter(s) you wish to receive - in Italian, in English, or both - by ticking the relative box(es), By clicking 'Subscribe', you agree that we may process your information in accordance with the privacy terms, Protesters against abortion in Bucharest in 2022- Gabriel Preda RO/Shutterstock, In Romania, having an abortion has become increasingly difficult. On Jan. 21, the women marched. "We have young women who give birth against their will. The fact remains that the legislator does nothing to guarantee access to abortion to all those who need one. In fact, however, every year fewer and fewer hospitals offer this service. Many men do not allow their wives to use contraception, nor do they want to wear condoms during sexual intercourse. Official figures on the issue are scarce, because the Romanian state does not actually collect them. "It's the worst pain I have ever felt", she would say. Their number has increased during the pandemic", says Andrada Cilibiu, who travels regularly to Romania holding awareness and education seminars for women. During the operation, despite the anaesthetic, she experienced severe pain. I ask them, 'Do you want to have more? It illustrates what all Romanians know very well: it is better not to need treatment And the situation in Bucharest is better than in rural areas. But in 1966, due to the stagnation of the population, which went against the regime's development plans, Nicolae Ceausescu issued decree 770. A few days later Kai realised she was pregnant. A one-page site with a few sentences: "Do you want to have an abortion? A reportage. Since it was Sunday, the gynaecologist suggested that she come back the next day. "Until the mid-2000s, things changed for the better in Romania", continues the activist, referring to women's reproductive rights. You must go to the hospital".

Nowadays, abortion on demand has become such a monstrously trivial thing that no one thinks of what it really means, that is, the end of a life".

I know this because I tried to do things with WHO and UNICEF, but it never came to anything". At the time Ekaterina was living in Bucharest, studying industrial management and working in the call centre of a multinational, which was about to promote her to team leader. In Romania there is no law that allows women to get justice from hospitals or the Romanian state if their right to abortion is violated. "They told me that the abortion was a painful operation, that there was a high probability of becoming sterile, that I would be traumatised for the rest of my life, that I would regret it. Should we think that in Romania the rights of doctors now take precedence over the rights of women? But it was blocked". At noon, she was still waiting. When she regained consciousness, she was naked on the bed of the guy who had invited her, in pain. It should be noted that doctors have insurance that covers any negligence, but abortion is not covered. "Instead, they offer a family planning interview in the hospital chapel with a priest". The worst thing, she adds, "is that no one really knows what is going on". "Women who die are the most vulnerable and the poorest. The evolution of numbers is brutal. "In the 1990s, sex education courses and family planning programmes were booming in Romania", recalls Daniela Draghici. Today Irina Popescu-Mateescu is thinking more than ever about leaving the country. | Terms of use. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation became "very concerning", stresses Andrada Cilibiu of Centrul Filia. "I was expected to live with an alcoholic, that's the mentality here". She ended up talking to the nurses, who knew nothing, she then called the doctor, who did not answer. These are only indications "to which the Romanian government responds in a hypocritical way, without taking any action", regrets Andrada Cilibiu. Because the problem is not only medical: anti-abortion activists, often members of orthodox fundamentalist movements such as the Pro-Vita association, born in Iasi in eastern Romania, are increasingly organised. I commenti, nel limite del possibile, vengono vagliati dal nostro staff prima di essere resi pubblici. They are stronger". Her rapist eventually offered to give her the money if she dropped the complaint. Then, on the recommendation of a friend, she met Andrada Cilibiu of the Centrul Filia association. On Jan. 22, President Trump retaliated by effectively crippling womens rights to reproductive health care across the globe. Andrada Cilibiu started working for Centrul Filia in 2019. According to Andrada Cilibiu, the state would have the power to oblige any public hospital to provide this service, under penalty of revocation of accreditation for gynaecology. It was a demoralizing end to the largest inaugural protest in American history. In any case, the topic is taboo and most women prefer to move on as quickly as possible, as activists from Centrul Filia point out. These same colleagues have asked her to stop the prenatal education courses she has given pregnant women since 2008. () We encourage births", declared the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health at the time. However, this decline is not the result of public policies that promote contraception or sex education. "Doctors tell us that many women die from abortions at home, but then their death certificate shows another cause. "Pro-life activists also oppose sex education and contraception, which shows that this movement does not really care about fetal life and reducing the number of abortions, as it opposes the very measures that would reduce unwanted pregnancies", points out anthropologist Radu Umbres. "Well, maybe next time you'll be more careful", the nurse lectured her. Eventually Kai went to a public hospital recommended by Centrul Filia. She is now a single mother and she feels like the "black sheep" of her family. My mother then told me that she had to have an abortion in the early 2000s and that it was very complicated to do so". "I tried to resurrect a programme that was interrupted several years ago. At that point they stopped calling her. "They disappeared and they never helped me". Until recently, when you googled abort (abortion in Romanian), the first result was "abort.ro". In her opinion, a figure illustrates the regression taking place in Romania.

"The people I called made me two appointments with a gynaecologist, but to change my mind", she says. They also promised me that they would help me raise my son, that they would send me everything I needed After a while it was too late to make another choice". "It's not a decision that I have yet accepted. EU health legislative initiatives are not binding on member states. "His room-mates started clapping when they saw me. The first law passed after the revolution of December 1989 was the one that legalised abortion. In 2020, for example, a 45-year-old woman died of haemorrhage in Ploiesti, a medium-sized city near Bucharest, after a poorly performed curettage by a doctor of a small private practice. "In the current system, the doctor wants to stay above the patient. The fault lies with a deadly cocktail: no sex education in schools, no public policy for contraception, and increasingly limited access to abortion. Vlad Voiculescu told her he hired her in the reproductive health planning department because he knew about her activism for women's rights. I have not yet fully accepted I am mother. "Abortion at the request of the patient is not a medical act", he said. And professional bodies seem to get in line with their positions. Before 2005, there were 18. She did not want a drug abortion, fearing it would not work 100% and she asked for a curettage under anaesthesia. The trend does not seem to be reversing: more and more young gynaecologists are exercising their conscience clause. "Pro-life NGOs are also lobbying in medical schools", says Andrada Cilibiu. They just paused as she vomited from the pain. At the time, the association was looking for volunteers to call and report public hospitals that practise abortion in order to better orient the women who reached out. In September 2021, out of 128 public hospitals contacted by Centrul Filia, 69 did not offer abortions, or 54%. Meanwhile, abortion activists promised her food for the baby, a stroller, clothes "They brainwashed me", she sees in retrospect. OF UKRAINE, THE GLOBAL ECONOMY, AND PROSPECTS FOR WORLD WAR III. The association has sent numerous reports to the European Commission and the EU Parliament, "but no reaction". 'Others will take care of it', is their mentality. "I tried a lot of things. The nearby hospitals had all refused to practise abortion and the private clinics had made it prohibitively expensive for her: around 400-500 Euros. ', they answer: 'It does not depend on me, but on the will of God and my husband' ". "Reproductive health at the Ministry of Health is now in the hands of one person. In Romania there is no separation between church and state. Five years later, the percentage had dropped to 8.6. Selective abortion: in Montenegro is still alive, Between institutions and movements, the challenges of Moldovan feminism, Administrative elections in Romania: Bucharest and beyond. "I know women who refuse to say they have a spiral because the Church has told them it is a sin". I left in a hurry". ", a nurse asked. According to data from the National Institute of Public Health, between 2019 and 2020 the number of abortions fell by 40%, from 26,862 to 15,595. In the first nine months of 2021, 10,429 abortions were performed, with an average even lower than in 2020. I slapped him, went home, and called the police. Need help or information? When she woke up, a nurse told her the abortion was over. "Yeah, it was awful", Kai replied. He is the one who knows and decides, and there should be no questions. On Monday she was told: "Unfortunately we cannot do it today, because it is a religious holiday in Romania". Kai, 22, tells her story sitting at the desk in her small student room on the outskirts of Bucharest. Of 802 gynaecologists called by Centrul Filia, only 275 said they agreed to perform abortions. I had a lot of energy and tools at my disposal, but nothing helped. Then he conclude: "Unfortunately we will not be able to perform your abortion, we are afraid you will bleed too much. At the third clinic she visited, they even gave her an ultrasound and the doctor turned the screen to show her the embryo. In November 2020, the Ministry of Health collected data from 134 public hospitals and sixteen private clinics: 58% of them denied abortions. Kai spent the night in the hospital. It was this number that Ekaterina called when she got pregnant in 2019, when she was 19. "We do not encourage abortions. She had passed out. "I was shocked by the answers that were given to me", recalls the young activist. In 2019, Gheorge Borcean, president of the College of Physicians, publicly congratulated all healthcare workers who refused to practise abortions. But Irina Popescu-Mateescu soon realised that her job was mainly to prevent abortions. The police told Kai that the rape was "a personal matter between them" and left it at that. In 2019, an investigation by The Black Sea revealed that 60 of the 190 public hospitals contacted said they did not do abortions almost one in three. She concludes: "Today the bodies of Romanian women belong to society, to their husbands, not to them".