WARNING: Although the images in this post have been pixelated, they ARE GRAPHIC 

As long as Sex Education continues to be a taboo, incidents like this will keep on happening. Children are taught not to talk about “scandalous” things with their parents, so they end up resorting to the use of internet and pornography when learning about the human body. In times like these it isn’t surprising at all that abortion rates have nearly doubled in the last 10 years, in Pakistan.

The industry that has developed around abortion (yes, it is an industry because, according to reports, more than 2.5 million abortions are carried out in Pakistan, annually) is equal parts shady and criminally neglected. The mainstream public discourse fails to recognize abortion as an actual right for women to choose to do whatever they want with their bodies and with a society that looks down upon sexual intercourse, the dangerous mushrooming of abortion clinics and unqualified midwives helping women give birth to and/or “dispose off” unwanted children is a matter of concern.

The consequences of unintended pregnancy and induced abortion result in substantial costs to the country’s health care system

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Not to forget, the toll it takes on women and their families. According to a factsheet on ‘Unintended Pregnancies and Induced Abortion in Pakistan’ by the Guttmacher Institute, policy- makers and service providers must make improved access to quality contraceptive services an urgent priority, especially in rural areas, so that Pakistani women are better able to time and space their pregnancies and have the number of children they desire.

According to the report by the Guttmacher Institute, because abortion is legally allowed only to save the life of a woman or to provide “necessary treatment” early in pregnancy, many women seeking abortion due to unwanted pregnancies end up going to unqualified back-alley clinics which are extremely unsafe.

An extremely graphic video circulating the internet is a prime example of why Sex Education is compulsory for Pakistan

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The graphic video, which for obvious reasons will not be reproduced here, shows a dog running on the streets with an apparently aborted fetus in its mouth. Jahangir Sadozai, uploaded the video on Facebook highlighting how disgusting the act was to leave the fetus out like that, so that a dog was able to get its hands on it.

Indeed, we may never find out if it is even an aborted fetus or if the dog simply snatched it from its mother. However, recognizing that incidents like these are less likely to happen in a society that doesn’t treat sex as a taboo, and more as a natural human physical proclivity.

One of the quickest ways such incidents would be to make access to contraceptives easier.

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You can never ever keep people from having sex. So how about instead of resisting something that will always keep on happening, one deals with it by helping people to become safe when engaging in it? More than 20% women were without access to contraceptives, in 2012-13, in Pakistan. This figure doesn’t even account for figures where the ‘mindset’ restrains one from using contraceptives.

The good thing is that knowledge about contraceptives, even among married women has steadily increased over the years. Moreover, the birthrate in Pakistan, although still one of the highest in Asia, is on a decline. So, not all is bleak, however, for more swift action, we need to rally together quicker and with more knowledge about our conditions.