When the conflict in Kosovo was raging, I'd heard about women being raped by Serbian soldiers, but the reality of it had no personal meaning to me. Now, as I work in Kosovo in the postwar rebuilding effort, I confront the reality every day. Babies born as a result of these rapes are abandoned in hospitals where they will live for an undetermined length of time.
Local adoption is permitted, but no prospective parents come forward.
I'm told that under normal circumstances in Kosovo, if a woman were raped, she would seek an abortion , especially if the perpetrator were of a different ethnic group. The passionate hatred of each group for the other is overwhelming. Because of the war, the already crumbling medical system was completely disrupted. Doctors fled the country, and abortion became unavailable. Something as simple as emergency contraception was virtually unheard of in Kosovo before the war.