Thread by @kitty_science

1/ Rape exception abortions; a thread

In Namibia abortion is illegal, you face about 5 years in prison for just having misoprostol on you.
There is an exception for rape.
Here is why rape exceptions are absolutely useless to most victims because it is completely unattainable:

2/ To obtain such an exception; you need the following:
- The permission of at least 2 doctors who will confirm it was rape (rape kit is a must), and will perform the procedure.
- Permission from a psychiatrist to confirm you are sound of mind, but also suffering rape trauma.

3/ - A complete police report detailing your case and its proceedings.
- A letter of permission from a judge/magistrate saying the case is real and court hearings are likely going to end in a conviction.

4/ Now keep in mind this all have to be done within 20 weeks of literally the worst trauma of your life.
By a judicial system that is >90% avidly anti-choice.
In a world where >67% of rapes are never reported, and less than 1% of reported cases leads to a conviction.

5/ In a country that does not have socialised medicine, and you have to pay for your rape kit analysis.
That is if you even got the kit done and didn't dissociate for days on end like me.
That is if the police didn't laugh in your face and made comments about your clothing.

6/ If you can afford two doctors and a psychiatrist on your student budget (I couldn't). And even if you could, how do you prove what happened when you discover you are pregnant 9 weeks later?

7/ No rape kit, no police report, no evidence, no money.
This is the reality for the large majority of rape victims. There is a reason #WhyIDidntReport is so common (fear, blame, shame, coercion, dissociation, the list goes on).

8/ Every single woman I know has a story of sexual assault. I have never heard of even one case that was granted a rape exception in Namibia.
So we turn to alternatives.
About 16% of maternal deaths are the result of backstreet abortions in Namibia.

9/ >20% of serious pregnancy related injuries are because of back alley terminations.
Women self induce abortion by inserting objects, like coat hangers, or herbs into the vagina or by drinking
concoctions.

10/ Other women turn to the black market to
who provide them with concoctions which
contain products such as cleaning liquids, cleaning
powders or washing softener.

11/ Baby dumping is incredibly common. Newborn corpses are found in the sewer systems at a rate of 13/month in the capital alone. I was in primary school when I saw my first baby corpse in the trash.

12/ In a conservative society that consider abortion a worse crime than rape, you are all but cast you out if you manage to have an abortion. So there isn't really a surprise that suicide soon follows.

13/ Rape exception laws means nothing if you pair them with unattainable requirements of 'liar until proven otherwise' by forensic, medical, psychiatric, and court evidence which all must be in agreement within an impossible time period.

14/ So stop telling me you only support exceptions, it means nothing. In fact, it means you're absolutely & completely ignorant about how rape victims are treated by the legal system and the fire hoops the size of a needle's eye we have to jump to obtain basic human rights.