Malawi: Abortion is not a crime

Luke Tembo, September 28, 2016, The Nation

For far too long, Malawians view of termination of pregnancy has condemned women and girls to either death or permanent disability. These are needless injuries and deaths that can be prevented if only we stop looking at termination of pregnancy as a crime, moral, faith or cultural issue-but rather as public health issue.

In the country, termination of pregnancy is legal but heavily restricted. It is permissible only to save the life of a pregnant woman. The restrictive law and the criminal sanctions are the main drivers of unsafe abortion in the country because women, for fear of the law, resort to clandestine and dangerous means to terminate pregnancies.

According to the Magnitude and Incidences of Abortion in Malawi, a study conducted by the Ministry of Health, over 70 000 women and girls procure abortion every year.

[continued at link]
Source: The Nation


U.S.: Today Marks the 16th Anniversary of the Abortion Pill and International Safe Abortion Day

09/29/2016 05:20 pm ET
Melissa S. Grant, carafem, Vice President

The significance of September 28th for women’s reproductive rights is huge. It marks not only the 16th anniversary of the abortion pill in the U.S. but also International Safe Abortion Day. Coincidence?

The 28th day of September was declared an international day of action for the decriminalization of abortion in 1990 by the women’s health movement and has been recognized annually ever since. Launched in Latin America and the Caribbean, regional activists have been organizing in support of safe abortion on this date for the past 26 years.

[continued at link]
Source: Huffington Post


Nepal: MoH close to finalising free abortion guideline

Post Report, Kathmandu
More than a year after free of cost abortion plan was announced, the government has set aside Rs 32 million in the fiscal year 2016-17 to start the service

Sep 28, 2016- The government has not been able to start free of cost abortion service more than a year after it was announced in the 2015-16 budget speech.

“We know the government has announced to provide free of cost abortion service but we have not received a specific instruction from the Ministry of Health to that end,” said Dr. Jageshwor Devkota, director of Paropakar Maternity Hospital, the first government hospital specialising in women’s reproductive health.

Dr RP Bichha, chief of Family Health Division at Ministry of Health (MoH), said: “We are in the final phase of completing the guideline. Once it is complete, we will pass it to Ministry of Finance after that we will be able to start the service. It might take around two to three more weeks.”

[continued at link]
Source: Kathmandu Post


Thailand: Hypocrisy holds back use of abortion pills

by Sanitsuda Ekachai
28 Sep 2016

Here's the good news about women's health in Thailand as the world marks International Safe Abortion Day Wednesday: safe, easy and legal abortions are finally a reality here. And they're also free.

Here's the bad news: It's still very difficult for women to get medication abortion services from state hospitals.

"The problem is not a lack of medical technology. Nor the law. It's the die-hard hypocrisy our society has for women and young girls with unplanned pregnancies," said Kritaya Archavanitkul, a reproductive health activist and associate professor in demography.

[continued at link]
Source: Bangkok Post


Pro-life activists launch new petition promoting total abortion ban in Russia

Published time: 28 Sep, 2016 11:37

A new petition for a complete ban on abortions in Russia launched by the public movement “For Life” has been backed by over 300,000 people, including children rights ombudsman, and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The head of the movement, Sergey Chesnokov, wrote on his Facebook page that the main objective behind the initiative was “changing the public opinion about abortions in Russia.” He also wrote that after the document is signed by one million people, they intended to send it to the presidential administration.

The activists write in their appeal that the petition was created in cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church and that they seek a complete ban on artificial abortions, including morning-after pills, which they described as “legal infanticide” and “an act similar to pagan sacrifices of children.” The ruinous effects of abortions listed in the petition include demographic damage to the nation, damage to women’s health and psyche, as well as “the loss of divine blessing” by the people as a whole which, in turn, could lead to the loss of sovereignty, political and military defeats, and social disasters.

[continued at link]
Source: RT.com


Destigmatizing and Decriminalizing Abortion: That’s Our Collective Work

Decriminalizing abortion is a major step toward ensuring that all individuals can end their pregnancies without fear of shame, blame, or prosecution. Shutterstock

Sep 28, 2016, 11:27am Leila Hessini

On this Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion, we celebrate the millions who make a decision that is the right one for them, their families, and their communities. We celebrate the providers who are committed to truly providing patient-centered care regardless of age, sexual or gender orientation, marital status, reason for abortion, or ability to pay. And we celebrate policymakers and activists who have worked tirelessly to overturn laws that criminalize and penalize women.

Today, September 28, is the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion. But is “safe and legal” enough?

Why in the 21st century do we still need a day of action? Who are abortions safe and legal for in today’s world, and who defines what is “safe” and what is “legal”? Are abortions accessible for people who have mobility or sight challenges, sex workers, or those with nonconforming sexual or gender identities? What about for adolescents who must seek parental notification, those who must pay the equivalent of their monthly wages for an abortion, and undocumented people trying to find an abortion provider in Texas?

Answering these questions requires going beyond the “safe and legal” frame to acknowledge the importance of transforming systems, structures, and services to meet the needs of all while also upholding individual autonomy and agency over health care. As members of our communities, health-care workers, and advocates, we must trust that those who can become pregnant know what’s best for them. And we must ensure they have the ability, access to resources, and power to pursue it.

To do that, we must destigmatize, decriminalize, and democratize abortion—here in the United States and worldwide.

Abortion stigma occurs when people are labeled, dehumanized, or discriminated against due to their need for, or association with, abortion. Stigmatization marks individuals who have abortions and health-care professionals who provide them as different and undesirable. Stigma is discrimination, and it provokes different consequences for young people, people with disabilities, or individuals with nonconforming gender or sexual identities, among others. And stigma doesn’t just play out solely at the individual level but also structurally in the systems, structures, and discourses that govern reproductive health care.

Decriminalizing abortion is also immensely important. It’s a major step toward ensuring that all individuals can end their pregnancies without fear of shame, blame, or prosecution. Existing laws are not consistent with individuals’ needs and preferences. Laws and policies must be shaped by those whose rights they seek to uphold. They must also protect, respect, and fulfill women’s autonomy and human rights pertaining to self-administered abortion pills and their availability. In the context of the increased criminalization of women’s self-use of abortion pills, we must also strive to make sure self-use is legalized.

By democratizing access to information, drugs, and care, we can build deeper and more nuanced understanding of different people’s reproductive-health preferences based on their circumstances. All individuals should have access to confidential, accessible, and evidence-based information that is conveyed through familiar communication channels, formats, and languages. At the global level, The World Health Organization has issued guidelines that advance the roles of community health workers and individual women as agents of their own health care. Organizations and networks, such as Women on Web and Women Help Women, have set up hotlines for virtual counseling services and access to pills in settings where abortion is restricted. And, on the ground, community-based groups are recognizing the safety of decentralized care and self-induced abortion during early pregnancy. They are also creating different literacy tools for women to safely terminate an unwanted pregnancy, documenting where women prefer to go for information, and working closely with local groups to increase women’s access to abortion pills.

So today, September 28, we celebrate the millions of women every year who make a decision that is the right one for them, their families, and their communities. We celebrate the providers who are committed to truly providing patient-centered care regardless of age, sexual or gender orientation, marital status, reason for abortion, or ability to pay. We celebrate policymakers and activists who have worked tirelessly to overturn laws that criminalize and penalize women. And we celebrate donors and supporters who know that, with rising anti-woman and repressive politics and practices in so many countries and contexts, funding for progressive movements for social change has never been so important.

When abortions are not only safe and legal but when information, drug access, and medical services are truly informed by those who seek care, and when all peoples have access to care free from stigma, shame or restrictions, that’s when we’ll know we’ve achieved our vision.

Source: Rewire.com


International Safe Abortion Day: Events Around the World – MORE REPORTS

28 September 2016
UN OHCHR HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERTS: REVISED/TRANSLATED STATEMENT

“Unsafe abortion is still killing tens of thousands women around the world” – UN rights experts warn

AFRICA

Statement by the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa

On this day, September 28, the global day of action for access to safe and legal abortion, and in line with our continental Campaign for the Decriminalization of Abortion in Africa, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights through the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa, Justice Lucy Asuagbor calls for States to honor their commitments under the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa; the Maputo Plan of Action; and the Campaign for the Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa – by decriminalizing abortion in their respective countries.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), unsafe abortion continues to be a public health crisis and one of the largest contributors of maternal mortality and morbidity in Africa, accounting for up to 30% of maternal deaths in many sub-Saharan countries. The WHO estimates that over 6 million unsafe abortions occur in Africa, resulting in 29,000 deaths and countless serious injuries and disabilities every year for African women and girls under the age 25.

We agree with the WHO that making abortion illegal does not reduce abortion rates and neither does it deter women from having abortions. Instead, more women are pushed to the backstreet where they access unsafe abortions. It is time to bring a stop to these deaths.

Criminal laws on abortion are discriminatorily enforced and disproportionately impact the most vulnerable women and girls. Those who are poor, rural and lack education are at the highest risk of police investigations, arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment for unsafe abortions. Furthermore, women who fear prosecution for unsafe abortions often delay or fail to seek treatment at public hospitals or clinics, with adverse effects to their health and lives.

Criminalizing abortion violates many basic human rights, including the right to: life, liberty, security, health, and freedom from torture. Criminal abortion laws discriminate on the basis of sex—they penalize a health service only women need.

It is for these reasons that we join the global movement for a world where all women and girls can be empowered to make their own choices about their reproductive health and lives.

http://www.achpr.org/news/2016/09/d238/

[continued at link]
Source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion


Abortion in Developing Regions: What Progress Since 1990?

Ann M. Starrs, Guttmacher Institute
First published online: September 28, 2016

Wednesday marks International Safe Abortion Day. Every year on this day, September 28, women’s health advocates from around the world unite in support of ensuring universal access to safe abortion care and the repeal of laws that criminalize abortion. This global day of action began in Latin America over a quarter-century ago in response to the countless deaths and injuries resulting from clandestine abortion procedures in the region, a reality still faced by millions of women today throughout the world.

Abortion is common. Globally, an estimated 56 million abortions took place each year between 2010 and 2014, which translates to one in four pregnancies ending in abortion.

[continued at link]
Source: Guttmacher.org


International Safe Abortion Day: Events Around the World – 28 September 2016

UGANDA
National stakeholder meeting on unsafe abortion 2014
Coalition to Stop Maternal Mortality Due to Unsafe Abortion (CSMMUA)

The Coalition to Stop Maternal Mortality Due to Unsafe Abortion (CSMMUA) is a multi-disciplinary Ugandan civil society coalition founded in July 2012. The Secretariat is maintained by the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD). This year we shall mainly have a social media campaign that includes a few strategic Op Eds in the newspaper and some advocacy messages released on some of our social media platforms. We shall also be supporting our partners from Uganda Network of Young people living with HIV/AIDS(UNYPA) that will be having a community dialogue in the Kampala slum of Kawaala that will include, among other things, testimonies and sharing of stories of abortion experiences by teenagers, health workers and others.

CAMEROON
Women for a Change (Wfac)

Wfac, founded in 2009, is an independent, young women-led organisation working for women's sexual and reproductive health rights, leadership and development. They will be having a strategy meeting with some 20 key college authorities & discipline teachers to map out best approaches in addressing issues around adolescent SRHR and also ensuring comprehensive sexuality education be part of the school policy. They will be tweeting from @WfacCmr & @ZoFem, and sharing updates on their Facebook page. They produced a video called My Story, My Choice for 28 May this year which was accepted at the ArtCity Short Film Festival and will be aired on 4-8 October. And they have also just launched a new Zine at #WfacZine.

[continued at link]
Source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion


Statement by three UN experts for 28 September – “Unsafe abortion is still killing tens of thousands of women around the world”

28 September 2016

“Unsafe abortion is still killing tens of thousands women around the world” – UN rights experts warn

Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion – Wednesday 28 September 2016

GENEVA (27 September 2016) – Speaking ahead of the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion, a group of United Nations human rights experts* called on States across the world to repeal restrictive abortion laws and policies, and all punitive measures and discriminatory barriers to access safe reproductive health services.

The experts also expressed their support for the call of several non-governmental organisations to make 28 September an official UN day for safe abortion worldwide, to urge Governments to decriminalise abortion and provide reproductive health services in a legal, safe and affordable manner.

“In the twenty-first century unsafe abortion is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity. According to the World Health Organization, about 22 million unsafe abortions take place each year worldwide and an estimated 47,000 women die annually from complications resulting from the resort to unsafe practices for termination of pregnancy.

Criminalisation of abortion and failure to provide adequate access to services for termination of an unwanted pregnancy are forms of discrimination based on sex. Restrictive legislation which denies access to safe abortion is one of most damaging ways of instrumentalising women’s bodies and a grave violation of women’s human rights. The consequences for women are severe, with women sometimes paying with their lives.

Restrictive laws apply to 40% of world’s population. In countries which prohibit abortion, women who seek health services in relation to the termination of a pregnancy, whether in order to carry out the termination or to seek medical care after a miscarriage, may be subjected to prosecution and imprisonment. Prohibition does not reduce the need and the number of abortions; it merely increases the risks to the health and life of women and girls who resort to unsafe and illegal services.

Evidence-based comprehensive sex education and the availability of effective contraception are essential to lower the incidence of unintended pregnancy, and hence to lower the number of abortions. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that countries where access to information and to modern methods of contraception is easily available and where abortion is legal, have the lowest rates of abortion. The possibility of accessing safe abortion remains essential. Unwanted pregnancies cannot be totally prevented since no contraceptive method is 100% effective, and women may be exposed to sexual violence.

We recommend the good practice found in many countries which provide women’s access to safe abortion services, on request during the first trimester of pregnancy. We insist on international legal requirements that women can access abortion at the very least in cases of risk to their life or health, including mental health, rape, incest and fatal impairment of the foetus during the first trimester and later. In this context, states should also allow pregnant girls and adolescents to terminate unwanted pregnancies, which if carried to term expose them to a greatly increased risk to life and health, including a very high probability of suffering from obstetric fistula, prevent completion of their education and obstruct development of their economic and social capabilities.

We urge States to repeal restrictive laws and policies in relation to abortion, which do not meet the international human rights law requirements and that have discriminatory and public health impacts, and to eliminate all punitive measures and discriminatory barriers to access safe reproductive health services. These laws and policies violate women’s human right to health and negate their autonomy in decision-making about their own bodies.

We cannot tolerate the severe violation of women’s human rights on the basis of their sex and biological differences. We cannot tolerate the high incidence of women’s and girls’ preventable deaths resulting from maternity-related issues, including from unsafe abortion.

The Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion

In the past 30 years, women’s rights groups have mobilized on 28 September, named ‘the Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion’, to urge their Governments to decriminalise the termination of pregnancy, end the stigma and discrimination around the practice and provide such services in a legal, safe and affordable manner.
Originally from Latin America and the Caribbean, 28 September, which commemorates the abolition of slavery for children born to slave mothers in Brazil, was renamed as the day of the ‘free womb’ and the movement spread to all the other regions in the world.

While slavery has now been abolished, there is still a long way to go before the bodies and wombs of women around the world will stop being instrumentalised in the name of patriarchal morals or traditions and for political, economic or cultural purposes.

We join our voices to the strong and brave ones of many non-governmental organizations which have called for safe abortion worldwide by requesting that 28 September be made an UN official international day on safe abortion.”

* The UN EXPERTS: Alda Facio, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice; Dainius Pûras, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; and Juan E. Méndez, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Many international and regional human rights instruments have affirmed that ensuring women’s human rights requires access to safe and quality abortion and post-abortion services and care, including the CEDAW Convention, the Convención de Belém do Pará and the Maputo Protocol of 2005. The 2016 CESCR General Comment No. 22 also calls for guaranteeing women and girls access to safe abortion services and quality post-abortion care to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity.

For further information, please refer to the following documents:

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CEDAW.aspx
Report health and safety by the UN Working Group on discrimination against women:  http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/32/44#sthash.LwS545RE.dpuf
Report on the right to health of adolescents by the UN Special Rapporteur on health: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/32/32
Report on gender perspectives by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/31/57

The Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. Learn more, log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/Welcomepage.aspx

For more information and media requests, please contact Claire Mathellié ((+41 22 917 9151 / wgdiscriminationwomen@ohchr.org) ou Bernadette Arditi (+41 22 917 9159 / barditi@ohchr.org)

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
Xabier Celaya – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)

For your news websites and social media: Multimedia content & key messages relating to our news releases are available on UN Human Rights social media channels, listed below. Please tag us using the proper handles:
Twitter: @UNHumanRights
Facebook: unitednationshumanrights
Instagram: unitednationshumanrights
Google+: unitednationshumanrights
Youtube: unohchr

---------------------------------

Source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion