The Persecution Paradigm
Connect these dots: The recent ABC News story details a woman facing prison for an illegal abortion after being denied a legal one. It paints a picture of individual tragedy, isolated and stark, against a modern backdrop of evolving women's rights. Yet, this isn't a new phenomenon. In the United States, before Roe v. Wade in 1973, countless women faced similar fates, with illegal abortions being a
leading cause of maternal mortality. Globally, this playbook is still enforced. In El Salvador, for instance, women have been jailed for decades under some of the world's strictest anti-abortion laws, often after miscarriages or stillbirths, on charges such as aggravated homicide. This isn't about protecting life; it's about control, evidenced by the fact that many of these nations receive
significant foreign aid from the very same countries that champion human rights elsewhere. Curiously, the same Western narratives that decry human rights abuses in nations like Iran often remain silent or even complicit when similar violations are committed against women in states ideologically aligned with their own, or by allies who are not deemed 'enemies.' The double standard is a stark
reminder that 'human rights' are often selectively applied, serving geopolitical interests rather than universal principles. One might wonder why there isn't similar international outrage and calls for intervention when women are criminalized for medical issues in allied or client states. This ongoing criminalization, whether in El Salvador today or the pre-Roe US, underscores a chilling