The Price of Choice

In a post delivery ward of Fabella hospital women are advised to stay no longer than 24 hours. Sometimes four women will share one bed and due to the lack of sufficient number of nurses or midwifes, more experienced mothers will advise newcomers on breastfeeding and caring for they newborns. Manila, Philippines, April 2017

Two days before the referendum, a feminist group, Rosa, organized an artistic performace in the very centre of Dublin. About 40 women dressed as héroïnes from Hanmaid’s Tale marched along the quay of Liffey and on the main street of the city to raise awerness about what lack of access to reproductive rights really means. Dublin, 2018

Community health organisers from local women’s health NGO are well known in the community.They advise women on different modern contraceptive methods, safe family planning and prevention of illnesses like breast or cervix cancer. During small-group conversations they also attempt to empower women in the community by informing them about their rights and suggesting available training on health care, politics, ecology or culture. Malabon, Philippines,April 2017

Rosa Esther is 13 years old. She just gave birth to her daughter in the hosital of San Miguel in El Salvador. Rosa was brutally raped in her village by a man related to the gang members. He lives close to school therefore her and her two younger siblings quickly stopped going to school. Rosa’s familly filled the threat at the police but they don’t realistticly expect that the man will face any conséquences. March 2019, San Miguel, El Salvador

Evelyn del Carmen Sanchez Cabrera (32), Kenia Isabel Hernandez (24), Jacqueline Nohemi Castillo (31) and Salvadora Carolina Diaz (33) and are posing for a photo in the Prisoners of Centro. They are all part of the women commonly known in El Salvador as Las 17 + Mas and they were all imprisoned under the charges of aggravated suicide as the consequence of extremely restrictive abortion laws in the country. May 2019, Izalco, El Salvador

Wala (39) never wanted to have kids. She comes from a wealthy, highly educated family, but she could never tell her them about her situation. In Egyptian culture every child comes with good fortune and abortion can provoke Allah’s anger towards the family. Though she had to pay 900 USD for the procedure, she considers herself lucky to be able to have a termination in safe clinic with a specialized doctor. December 2018, Cairo, Egypt

A street mural-portrait of Savita Halppanavar was painted in the center of Dublin at the day of Irish referendum. During the following days, people left flowers and notes of solidarity which were later digitalized and sent to Savita’s family in India. May 2018, Dublin, Ireland

Iza (23) was drugged and raped during a party in her village. She did not remember anything and a month and a half later found out she was pregnant. Despite her mother's persuasions, she was determined not to keep the child, she wanted a different life for herself. She did not make an appointment and she has just arrived to the clinic hoping to find a solution. Straight after the abortion procedure she went to pray in a church nearby. Prenzlau, Germany, March 2017

In the operating room Polish gynecologist and the head of the gynecology department in the hospital, Dr. Rudzinski who lived in Germany for the past 30 years, is assisted by an anesthetist (also Polish) and three or four nurses. Dr. Rudzinski openly helps Polish women with access to abortion in the clinic. Even during the operation, he receives calls from patients wanting to make an appointment for the following weeks. Prenzlau, Germany, March 2017

Kasia Strek is one of very few women whose work is showing at the Visa pour l’image photography festival in Perpignan, France, this year. “The Price of Choice” is her long-term commitment to the subject of women’s reproductive health and access to abortion around the world. Impressively, it is photographed in over five countries and remains in progress; she has plans to add work from two more countries.

Shortly after Strek did her first public walkabout of her exhibition, I asked her why she was drawn to the subject of women’s health to begin with. “I am a young woman and since I was young I’ve considered myself a feminist,” she told me. “I’ve always been interested in human rights, and specifically women’s rights.” She goes on to describe how the October 2016 strikes in her home country of Poland –– where 100 thousand women and men took to the streets to protest a total ban on abortion –– were a tipping point for her. She turned to her camera to help her understand what it can mean for a woman to abort in a country with heavily restricted reproductive rights.

Globa figures on abortion are dismal. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that every year more than 25 million unsafe abortions are performed and every day an average of 160 women die from complications from these illegal operations.

The conductive line of “The Price of Choice” is indeed portraits of the women that have had abortions. But Strek is quick to point out that clandestine abortion is the absolute tip of the mountain, that it’s the ultimate consequence of lack of access to sexual education, modern contraception and sexual violence. Women are dying because religion is often used for political power and not as personal faith. All of this shows in her images and it is what makes them nuanced and layered and different from many other bodies of work on the same topic. Context and experience are not always as easy to photograph as an after-the-fact portrait, however beautiful. Yet both will be needed if the project succeeds in its goal, which is to create meaningful and open discussion about a taboo subject.

Strek is a Polish photojournalist based in Paris. She is a member of the French Collective ITEM. She was selected as one of 30 Under 30 Women photographers for 2018 and received the Camille Lepage On Est Ensemble prize at Visa pour l’image and a grant from the Jean-Luc Lagardere Foundation that same year.

— Samantha Reinders

The Price of Choice
Eglise des Dominicains, Visa pour l’image, Perpignan
Though September 15, 2019

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