Zika burst into awareness in the Western Hemisphere in November 2015 when Brazil’s Ministry of Health1 posted their suspicions that the recently observed rise in the number of infants born with microcephaly was caused by the Zika virus outbreak. Even before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the link between microcephaly and Zika,2 concerned governments had begun advising women to avoid getting pregnant.3,4 Critics immediately pointed out that most pregnancies are not planned and that many women do not have easy access to safe contraceptives or abortions.3
Historians will recognize similarities between Zika and the US rubella epidemic of 1963 to 1965, which resulted in thousands of babies born with birth defects ranging across all organ systems. Rubella (“German measles”) was a powerful catalyst for social change because its effects on fetal development spurred changes to abortion policy in the United States....
Comments