The Terrifying Global Reach of the American Anti-Abortion Movement

Conservatives have not limited their attack on reproductive rights to the United States. They’ve been busy imposing their will on other countries, too—with disastrous consequences for millions of poor women.

Jodi Enda
March 18, 2024

Because Editar Ochieng knew the three young men, she didn’t think twice when they beckoned her into a house in an isolated area near the Nairobi River. One was like a brother; the other two were her neighbors in the sprawling Kenyan slum of Kibera.

Ochieng did not know the woman who performed her abortion. She and a friend scoured Nairobi until they found her, an untrained practitioner who worked in the secrecy of her home and charged a fraction of what a medical professional would. Mostly, what Ochieng remembers is the agony when this stranger inserted something into her vagina and “pierced” her womb. “It was really very painful. Really, really, really painful,” she told me. Afterward, Ochieng said, she cut up her mattress to use in place of sanitary pads, which she could not afford. She was 16 years old.

Continued: https://newrepublic.com/article/179485/american-anti-abortion-movement-terrifying-global-reach


‘The stigma has returned’: abortion access in turmoil in Javier Milei’s Argentina

Health workers fear the return of unsafe abortions as recent statements lead to a spike in doctors refusing to provide care

Harriet Barber in Buenos Aires, The Guardian
Mon 18 Mar 2024

Javier Milei’s anti-abortion rhetoric has prompted growing numbers of doctors in Argentina to refuse to carry out terminations, according to medical professionals across the country.

Since taking office in December, the self-described libertarian has used speeches to both global leaders and schoolchildren to condemn abortion as a “tragedy” and “aggravated murder”.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/18/argentina-abortion-javier-milei


Nigeria: Unsafe abortion: Taming a leading, silent killer

Yinka Adeniran, Ibadan
March 18, 2024

There have been complaints about the rate at which women and girls die as a result of unsafe abortions. To tame this silent killer, experts and stakeholders in the Sexual Reproductive Health sector converged on Ibadan, the Oyo State capital to ruminate on how to do more for women and girls. YINKA ADENIRAN looks at the issue and efforts to tame the menace of unsafe abortion among women and girls.

For months, Sola Oduwole (pseudonym) could not forgive herself. She felt guilty as she felt she had a role to play in what had befallen her family. She just lost a sister (Olawunmi) who underwent surgery to cut off one of her breasts after she was diagnosed of breast cancer. Painfully, she died weeks after the surgery.

Continued: https://thenationonlineng.net/unsafe-abortion-taming-a-leading-silent-killer/


Breaking the Silence: Abortion Rights in Kenya

WATCH: Our documentary investigates Kenya’s hidden crisis, claiming the lives of more than 2,000 people a year

18 March 2024
Open Democracy
Film:  45 minutes

Legal ambiguity over abortions in Kenya pushes thousands of women into unsafe reproductive health care services each year. It’s a hidden crisis that has claimed the lives of over 2,000 people annually, while many more end up facing life-altering complications.

In this openDemocracy/BBC joint investigation, Linda Ngari explores how abortion is shrouded in stigma and misinformation, with desperate women turning to dangerous methods.

Who is responsible for this public health crisis and what can be done to save these lives? Interviewing Kenyan women, doctors, campaigners and religious groups, Ngari breaks the taboo around abortion – and shows how controversial ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ have been allowed to flourish.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/breaking-the-silence-abortion-rights-kenya/


USA – Why the rift between anti-abortion activists and Republican lawmakers is growing

Alabama supreme court’s decision causing a temporary halt in IVF care shines spotlight on problem between two groups

Ava Sasani
Sun 17 Mar 2024

There is a growing rift in the decades-old marriage between anti-abortion activists and Republican lawmakers.

The problem came into view last month, after a bombshell decision from the Alabama supreme court temporarily halted in vitro fertilization (IVF). The ruling, which described frozen embryos as “extrauterine children”, unraveled when the Republican-controlled legislature passed short-term protections for IVF providers.

Continued; https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/17/anti-abortion-activists-republican-lawmakers-ivf-alabama


Abortion rights at issue in European elections

Abortion rights are featuring in this year’s European election campaign in a way we have not seen before.

MAGDALENA FRENNHOFF LARSÉN
15th March 2024

The recent landmark decision in France to inscribe the right to abortion in the constitution serves to protect the law that first legalised abortion in the country in 1975. This law—the so-called Veil law—was championed by Simone Veil, one of France’s most admired and respected political figures, and an icon of the women’s-rights movement.

In 1974, Veil, a magistrate who had been asked by the French president, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, to serve as health minister in his government, delivered a momentous speech. She presented the public-health case for the decriminalisation of abortion to the National Assembly, which at the time was composed almost entirely of men.

Continued: https://www.socialeurope.eu/abortion-rights-at-issue-in-european-elections


How the grisly discovery of a ‘foetus mortuary’ re-shaped Thailand’s abortion laws

Years after the country’s abortion legislation shifted, entrenched attitudes still obstruct access in the Buddhist country

Sarah Newey, and Pear Maneechote
15 March 2024

The stench revealed the grisly secret. Wafting through the temple in southern Bangkok, the terrible smell led to the mortuary – and the grim discovery of more than 2,000 foetuses, wrapped in plastic bags and at various stages of decomposition.

The hidden remains were awaiting cremation, the final stage in an underground abortion network in Thailand’s capital. But a broken furnace disrupted the process for months, possibly longer, until the smell grew so potent it was impossible to hide.

Continued: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/abortion-laws-buddhist-monks-foetus-mortuary-thailand-asia/


USA – Planned Parenthood affiliates train abortion doulas to reduce stress for patients

BY: SOFIA RESNICK
MARCH 15, 2024

A 39-year-old single mother of two got up extra early on a recent Wednesday morning, hoping to be one of the first outside the Planned Parenthood clinic near Phoenix, Arizona.

The upside of not telling anyone about her abortion was that she wasn’t going to have to explain herself. The downside was that she couldn’t receive any pain medication, since she’d have to drive herself home. After scraping together $770 to pay for the procedure — $250 of which she said came from an abortion fund — she couldn’t afford an Uber for the 80-minute round trip. So she was overcome with relief when not only did the busy clinic not turn her away, but a retired nurse named Mary Cross offered to be her abortion doula, free of charge.

Continued: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/03/15/planned-parenthood-affiliates-train-abortion-doulas-to-reduce-stress-for-patients/


Australia – Victorian doctor suspended amid investigation into woman’s death after abortion

Women’s health clinic boss claims ‘witch hunt’ after Dr Rudolph Lopes suspended in weeks following 30-year-old’s death

Australian Associated Press
Fri 15 Mar 2024

A doctor working at a women’s health clinic in Melbourne has been suspended as a regulator revealed it was aware of concerns about other practitioners there. The facility’s boss claims it is a “witch hunt”.

It follows the death of 30-year-old mother Harjit Kaur, who died in January at the Hampton Park Women’s Clinic after what was described as a “minor procedure”.

It was later identified as a pregnancy termination.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/15/victorian-doctor-suspended-amid-investigation-into-womans-death-after-abortion


In France, abortion rights and hijab bans highlight a double standard on women’s rights

March 14, 2024
Roshan Arah Jahangeer

The French parliament recently voted in favour of enshrining the right to abortion into the country’s constitution. While crowds celebrated outside, the slogan “my body my choice” was projected onto the Eiffel Tower in giant letters.

Although concerns about barriers and access still remain, women in France are now guaranteed the right to an abortion up to 14 weeks into their pregnancy, mirroring Spain but still well behind Sweden’s 18 weeks and the 24 weeks allowed in The Netherlands.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/in-france-abortion-rights-and-hijab-bans-highlight-a-double-standard-on-womens-rights-225418