Anna Salvania

Physical security. Mobility. Being able to protect your children. These, among many others, are human rights that Palestinians have been deprived of by the Israeli occupation. All people, Jews and non-Jews have the right to live with jurisdiction over their own lives, contrary to the state of Israel’s discrimination against non-Jews. Criticisms of the state of Israel’s human rights violations are not synonymous with criticism of Jews for being Jewish, or anti-Semitism. There’s a heavy weight associated with not being in control of your own future; a very human, very real suffocation linked with finite horizons. Advocacy for this human right is the stewardship of all people, for all people, Jews, and non-Jews alike. The mental illness crisis in Palestine is a result of not having control of one’s own future. Some severe traumas are illustrated by Israeli imprisonments, and fettered mobility are among the evidence for Palestine leading the Middle East in mental illness disorders [1].

Twenty-two million. That’s how many women undergo unsafe abortions every year. Twenty-two million women are subjected to this leading cause of maternal mortality [1]. The debate on abortion focuses on its legality and accessibility, but we have the research: outlawing abortion does nothing to reduce quantity nor demand.