Since February, four months after the World Health Organization declared it a health emergency, The Zika Virus has gained plenty of warranted attention. As the 2016 Olympics (held in the same country that first reported the virus) approach this summer, people are naturally concerned.
With so many people travelling across the world, not only as spectators, but as participants in the game, many believe this gathering is a recipe for a quick and massive spread of the disease. Other countries, which are experiencing cases of the viruses themselves, will be even further exposed. Brazil itself, faces the same problem with the abnormal influx of foreign visitors this summer. Everyone is weighing in on the topic, even doctors arguing that the Olympics should not even continue as scheduled.
And with the World Health Organization's recent conclusion, the issue becomes wholly more complicated and dangerous. W.H.O. suggests that women, of the forty-plus countries who are in direct line of potential exposure of the virus, should delay pregnancies to avoid possible birth complications.
It's an issue in that the virus has clearly elevated its status as a health emergency to something that now affects millions of women directly. This statement comes after the consensus that Zika is linked to Microcephaly - a birth defect affecting the baby's head size and neurological function.
The warning is important in that pregnant women can now be even more cautious about travel. However, this is an issue that runs deeper than women and their children being at risk of birth-defects. It can almost be considered as a promotion of abortion.
Already, expecting mothers who were infected with the virus have opted for abortions to avoid the possible ailments. And this is concerning. The topic of abortion is not the question of debate, but rather the massive roadblocks pregnant women in Brazil are facing right now if they have been infected with Zika and do choose the alternative route.
Abortions are illegal in Brazil and are punishable by up to three years in prison. This leads to illegal abortions (around 900,000 in Brazil last year alone), resulting in even more complications. While the law does make exceptions for certain at-risk circumstances for women, such as rape, Microcephaly does not fall under that list.
Sexual violence in Brazil has become a serious and disconcerting issue, with over 47 thousand reports of rape in 2014. The Brazilian Public Forum for Public Security believes only 35 percent of the cases are actually reported. With such jarring statistics, pressure from government to choose not to abort and poor access to birth control and contraceptives makes the strategy of "delaying pregnancy" much more complicated.
The virus is getting attention in light of the upcoming Olympics, and it's likely that the problems will be left in the dark as the games pass. However, the situation's becomes even more problematic for dozens of countries and the millions of women who live in them.
