Who gives you the right?
Campaign “Who gives you the right?” is initiated and produced in a collaboration between IPAK Center and a Festival of Feminist Culture and Action BeFem. The project has emerged with intention to indicate and problematize consequences of a controversial regulation of Law of realization of rights of health protection of children, pregnant women and mothers. The regulation orders that pregnant women who have an abortion, miscarriage or stillborn child are deprived of their right to health protection and therefore their public health insurances, and for their confidential data to be shared with National Health Insurance Fund. Controversial regulation of this law implies systematic tracking of women who had an abortion, miscarriage or stillborn children, and a consequence of this regulation is potential establishment of national register of women who had abortion, as well as systematic registry and additional control by health workers and introduction of new bureaucratic procedures. It is indicative that the suggestion of this law has been put in a close context with recent engagement of Serbian Orthodox Church. Its inclusion within advisory sphere regarding interruption of pregnancy and ubiquitous political messages about the fall of birthrate and measures against it aims at successful prevention of it though the registry of women who have not delivered “live national body”. Recent comment of patriarch Irinej during his visit to gynecological and obstetric clinics “Narodni Front” adds up to this often tacit regulation as well to dangers it bears.
Center for research of cultures, politics and identities (IPAK Center) invites all relevant government and non-government organizations to join in support and division of responsibility for the law that would signify female body as maternity body, birth giving body, abortion body or miscarriage body. This regulation reduces social role of women to successful production of national body and therefore reduces it to exposed, registered body which does not fulfill the criteria and which directly brings into question constitutional rights of women to health protection and personal data confidentiality.