How is it not neo-colonialism to promote abortion in culturally conservative countries that oppose the practice?
I would say that it’s not countries that oppose the practice. There is no country in the world where women are not working to change their culture from within and to expand their rights from within. And the conservatives within those cultures frequently claim to be the voice of authenticity and the voice of cultural purity, but there’s no reason we should kind of grant them that authority. Cultures are always changing and they’re always influencing each other. There is no reason to think that a culture is any less authentic because it evolves and progresses. How does any of this affect us here in North America? Why should we care? I think we should care because our actions have profound repercussions in the lives of women abroad. Maternal mortality is an urgent crisis and global scandal. A big chunk of that – 13 per cent – is from unsafe abortions. What impact has the election of Barack Obama had? In a lot of ways, the election of Barack Obama has had a much bigger impact on reproducti
