who is anna?

Meet three twelve year-old girls, each living in very different parts of the world.  For convenience, let’s name them all “anna”.

Please take a minute and CLICK on any anna doll below to read their stories…

There are far too many desperate annas in the developing world, each with her own reasons for resorting to unsafe abortion.  CLICK HERE to read true stories.

what is the anna project?

The anna project is a letter-writing project with a difference, conceived out of outrage by Sylvia Bews-Wright, a Victoria artist and social activist (www.sylviabewswright.com). It gives voice to the many faceless and nameless girls and women in developing countries who die each year due to lack of access to safe abortion.

The anna project was prompted by a recent government decision to exclude access to safe abortion as part of its new maternal and child health initiative announced for the G8 summit meeting in June 2010.

This decision puts Canada at odds with the global community by contradicting our previous commitment – along with 191 other countries – to the UN Millenium Development Goals, which recognize that abortion is one of many components of comprehensive maternal health programmes necessary to reduce the unacceptably high rate of maternal mortality in developing countries.

The anna project tells the stories of three young women. These stories illustrate that women and girls are often unable to control the conditions under which they have sex, or even when and if they do. Access to safe and legal abortion could have saved the lives of two of the three annas. The third anna was lucky enough to be born in Canada. CLICK HERE to understand our choice of stories.

Canadian women have the right to safe abortion. How can we deny this same right to women in developing countries, particularly now, when rape is often a standard tactic of war?

The anna project reaches out to unite people in their displeasure at this abrupt change in Canadian policy. We are asking you to sign a string of anna paper dolls to express your disapproval.

The anna dolls are holding hands to create a chain of unity around the world. At the same time, each doll highlights the very different realities of their individual situations. Each one bears a message. Linked together in unity and hope, the annas symbolize our demand that this decision be reversed.

We ask that you join us in creating an anna chain across Canada by writing a letter, enclosing your own anna chain links, to the Prime Minister and your MP. Have your friends add to the chain by spreading the word.

Click on the ACT NOW button for simple instructions.

the anna project recognizes the multifaceted needs and complexities surrounding the issue of maternal health

our mantra is… “every pregnancy wanted, every birth safe, every newborn and child healthy” — Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

please note that the anna project is not advocating that Canadian aid fund abortion in circumstances where it is illegal; instead, we are campaigning to ensure that, where abortion is not against the law, safe services are available, at the very least in any Canadian funded programmes.

How big is the challenge?

In 2005*……..

76 million women faced unintended pregnancies

72 million were in the developing world.  Some were women who had already borne so many children that they could not survive another pregnancy.  Many were girls, the victims of rape or incest, or were child brides. Others were among the thousands each year that are raped as a terror tactic in war

42 million of these girls and women had abortions

20 million resorted to “back-street” abortions

70,000 died as a result of botched abortions – that’s one every 8 minutes – and 8 million more had complications, many permanent

1 million children are left motherless and vulnerable because of maternal death.  Children who have lost their mothers are up to 10 times more likely to die prematurely than those who have not

Where abortion is not accessible, women faced with unwanted pregnancies may self-induce abortion or obtain clandestine abortion from untrained medical workers, traditional healers or laypeople.  Hazardous methods for unsafe abortion include ingesting laundry bleach, battery acid, turpentine, or coca-cola laced with ground glass; inserting objects into the uterus such as wires, sticks, coat hangers and knitting needles; and jumping from a dangerous height. CLICK HERE for a longer list of methods used in unsafe abortions.

deaths from unsafe abortions are unnecessary and unacceptable

CLICK HERE to access a map of the world and “point” to see and compare statistics and abortion policies in each country.

While you’re at it, be sure to check out the situation in Canada.

as this map so clearly demonstrates, access to safe abortion is legally sanctioned in many developing countries

the huge imbalance can be reversed.  it cannot be ignored

in countries and circumstances where abortion is not against the law, safe services should be available

* the most recent year for which statistics are available

Why now?

Canada is spearheading a major focus on maternal and child health in the developing world in its leadership role at the G8 summit conference in Toronto in June.

This is in line with our commitment – along with 191 other countries, both developing and developed – to UN Millenium Development Goal 5, to reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio.

This commitment includes access to safe abortion as part of the range of reproductive health services necessary to reduce the staggering rate of maternal deaths in developing countries.

however…..

At the G8 development ministers’ meeting in Halifax in April 2010, the government announced a new maternal and child initiative, but said that Canadian-funded aid would only be given to programming that excludes abortion from the range of maternal health services offered.

This directive
- contradicts our own right in Canada to safe abortion
- reverses thirty years of Canadian development policy
- does not reflect evidence-based programmes of other donors such as the UK or US
- does not respect the national policies and programmes of many developing countries
- exacerbates implementation problems for developing countries; and
- causes considerable embarrassment to our country in the eyes of the world.

these women need our help.  are their lives less valuable than our own?

What is the message?

the anna project is advocating that, in its new G8 initiative for maternal health in developing countries, the government funds safe abortion services in countries and situations where it is legal

Mr. Prime Minister:

1.  this is a life and death situation – every 8 minutes a desperate woman in a developing country dies from an unsafe abortion

2.  stop playing politics with women’s lives – your abrupt decision to exclude safe abortion from Canada’s G8 maternal health initiative begs the question:  are their lives worth less than our own?

3.  don’t continue to embarrass Canada at the G8 summit meeting in June with retrograde and discriminating policies…… the whole world is watching