I have been listening to various news debates, participating in webinars, zoom calls, online meetings and conference calls since the nation has been under lockdown amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. There has been a wide range of ideas and opinions from people across disciplines. The point I want to raise here is that women are facing a lot of issues during this lockdown that need to be addressed as soon as possible in order to curb the pressure on them.
After attending so many calls and participating in several online conferences, I came to know that a huge population of women are facing an issue of unplanned pregnancies and all sorts of violence within their households. According to UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), 47 million women might lose access to contraception if the lockdown carries on for six months, and about 24.55 million couples might lose access to contraception along with 9 lakh abortions, thereby increasing the chances of pregnancy-related deaths.
During a zoom call I attended last month, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) representative said that there had been a disruption in the supply of contraceptives in the government health system of India along with other countries. This is a very serious situation if it continues and will lead to either a large number of births next year or unsafe abortion practices.
There has been a lot of advocacy going on by various organisations throughout the world to keep reproductive health services like contraceptives and abortion under essential services so that couples have appropriate access to these services.
After a lot of efforts by the civil society organisations and influential personalities, in India, these services have been put under the “essential services” as per the new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Now women can access reproductive services as per their choice.