"I felt I had to say the 'right things' to the abortion committee, I did not know it was my right"

The abortion storm in the United States is also puzzling among women in Israel, who continue to refer women to the abortion committee.

Meirav Cohen

26/06/2022

Sunday, 26 June 2022, 17:58 Updated: 20:03

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In video: Protest across the United States over the ban on abortions (Photo: Reuters)

The storm of the abolition of the right to abortion in the United States raises questions among many women in Israel regarding policy in Israel.

Several women shared the difficult experience they went through before the abortion committee, and the need to sometimes pass on false information about their condition, in order to get the approval to perform the procedure and win elections on their body.

One of them is 28-year-old Noa Talmore from the lowlands.

"When I was 24 I was in a good, healthy and stable relationship. During a big trip abroad, my partner and I found out I was pregnant.

We thought about it from all directions and realized that it was not appropriate and not right for us at the moment to have a child, "she said." We returned to Israel and made an appointment for an abortion.

My spouse and parents supported me and gave me back. "

In Israel, abortion is conditional, by law, on the approval of an abortion committee.

This approval is given on one of four grounds relating to the woman's age (under 18 or over 40), pregnancy out of wedlock, fear of birth defects and the risk to the woman's life - her physical or mental health.

The abortion committee consists of two doctors and a social worker.

One of the committee members, at least, is required to be a woman.

According to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health, the doctor who is a member of the committee that approved the abortion will not be the one to perform the procedure.

"In the abortion committee I felt I had to say the right things to get what I deserved. Today I know how to say it deserves it, so I was innocent and did not understand that it was my right," Noa continued.

"After the abortion, I felt like my life was completely turned upside down, I was depressed and I had anxiety attacks. I stopped working, broke up with my partner and had a very hard time. I joined groups and learned that it's a lot of women's experience. I did not have an answer. "

In recent years, there has been a declining trend in the number of referrals to abortion committees and in the number of abortions performed.

In 2020, there were 17,548 appeals to abortion-operating committees, and 16,430 abortions in accordance with the committees' approval, a decrease of 7% from 2019.

In 2020, 74% of abortions were by the ninth week, 12% were in the 12-10 weeks and 14% were in the 13th week and above.

The rate of abortions in Israel is low compared to most European countries, Israel is ranked second lowest out of 28 countries in Europe.

Demonstration for the right to abortion in the US (Photo: Reuters)

According to data from the Knesset Information and Knowledge Center, abortion committees are located in different parts of the country, but there are differences in their distribution between the various districts.

For example, while in 2019 there were ten committees in the Tel Aviv district, seven in the southern district and only two in the Jerusalem district.

Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics show that 34% of applicants who lived in the Jerusalem District in 2019 and 30% of those who lived in the Southern District applied to abortion committees in districts other than their district of residence, most of them applied to committees in the Central and Tel Aviv districts.

Thus, even in terms of geographical dispersion, women living in the periphery have less availability to committees.

According to the Ministry of Health, the waiting time from submitting an application to the committee's approval may last from one day to a week, and a similar time frame may be from the date of the committee's approval until the termination of the pregnancy.

In most cases, the length of time until a medical abortion is performed is shorter than the time until the abortion in a surgical procedure.

Data from the Ministry of Health also show that 49% of abortions were due to pregnancy resulting from a relationship that is prohibited under criminal law, incest or out of wedlock.

18% of abortions were due to pregnancy that could endanger the woman's life or cause her physical or mental harm, 24% because the fetus may have a physical or mental defect and 9% because the woman is younger than the minimum age of marriage (17) or 40 years old.

According to Noa, "Only recently, four years later, I joined groups and learned that what I went through is happening to a lot of women because it's just like being postpartum, both hormonally and emotionally - and I had no answer to that. I do not regret my choice, she came Out of a whole place and after a lot of thinking, but what came after it was very difficult.

Some people still think that a woman's body belongs to someone who will decide for her.

My message to women who are now going through the process - you are not alone, many women are having abortions all the time and dealing with the mental, physical, and social consequences of it.

It is very helpful to hear that everyone is going through a similar experience.

And there are also caregivers who do abortion processing (like childbirth processing) and it helps a lot to return the forces to our body. "

More on Walla!

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To the full article

Demonstration for the right to abortion in the US (Photo: Reuters)

It should be emphasized that abortions performed as a result of prohibited criminal relationships and outside of marriage are counted together.

Many single women use this section because they have no other option.

The connection between the sections makes it difficult to monitor the data, but more than that gives a problematic message that a child out of wedlock is under the umbrella of the criminal sections.

The rate of approvals is lower among Arab women, 6.2 per thousand women of childbearing age, compared with Jewish women (8.8) and others (9.9) in 2019. Among Jewish women and others, there was a decrease of 22% and 50%, respectively, in 2019-2010 and a decrease of 2 % Among Arab women.

The rate of abortions among abortions in the former Soviet Union is 9.3 per thousand women of childbearing age in 2019, slightly higher, 8.5, among Jewish women and others, without immigrants.

The rate of approvals among Ethiopian women who have immigrated since 1980 is three times higher than in the Jewish sector and others, without immigrants, 4.3 times higher for girls up to the age of 19 and 5.3 times higher than for 24-20 year olds.

The rate for women up to the age of 30, born in Israel of Ethiopian origin (a father born in Ethiopia), is lower than the rate of Ethiopian births, but higher than the rate for Jews and others, without immigrants.

According to Noa, "I do not regret my decision. She came from a rational place and after a lot of thinking, but what came after her was very difficult. Some people still think that a woman's body belongs to someone who will decide. Today we can make it a real struggle after we understand the size. My

message to women who are now going through the process - do not be alone There are many people and groups who help in this process and can help go through it much better so that you do not feel alone.

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