Zika-fighting ‘abortion ship’ detained by Guatemala

Zika-fighting ‘abortion ship’ detained by Guatemala
25 Feb, 2017

Guatemala has detained a ship off its coast offering abortion services to women, ordering the expulsion of the vessel, owned by a Dutch non-profit organization, and its crew members.

The ship, run by Women on Waves, offers free abortions to women living in countries where the procedure is banned. The group carry out terminations in international waters for women up to ten weeks pregnant, and also offer sexual health and contraceptive advice.

The group said the abortion hotline was receiving hundreds of calls from women looking for information and hoping to schedule a visit.

Continued at source: Russia Today: https://www.rt.com/viral/378603-guatemala-detains-abortion-ship-zika/

Women on Waves Boat Detained in Guatemala

BREAKING: Women on Waves Boat Detained in Guatemala

Media Contact: Leticia Zenevich, leticia@womenonweb.org

National Network of Abortion Funds, media@abortionfunds.org

February 25, 2017 — Women on Waves, a member of the National Network of Abortion Funds, works to provide contraceptives, information, training, workshops, and safe and legal abortion services outside territorial waters in countries where abortion is illegal. In international waters (12 miles off the coast of a country) any laws banning abortion do not apply. Women on Waves provides these vital reproductive health services using a boat while working in close cooperation with local organizations to respond to urgent medical need and draw public attention to their campaign.

Since February 23rd, a Women on Waves boat offering safe abortions at the harbour Marina Pez Vela outside of Guatemala, has been detained in port. Rebecca Gomperts, Director of Women on Waves, and Quetzali Cerezo, Director of AME Guatemala, stayed on the ship today after rejecting an unlawful order revoking the licenses of the ship. They explained that the letter delivered by the Guatemalan army “did not mention the possibilities to appeal and it was not an official court order. When we mentioned this and refused to sign for the receipt, they withdrew the letter. So the licenses are all still valid.” Women in Guatemala City subsequently began protesting in front of the Ministry of Defense, requesting that the Women on Waves boat remain in Guatemala to provide access to safe abortion.

Continued at source: National Network of Abortion Funds: https://abortionfunds.org/breaking-women-on-waves-2017/

U.S.: Could Roe v Wade be overturned and abortion outlawed in the US?

Could Roe v Wade be overturned and abortion outlawed in the US?

The death of the plaintiff from the landmark case has put abortion law in the spotlight again, as a resurgent Republican right seeks to roll back access

Molly Redden
Saturday 25 February 2017

Who was Norma McCorvey?

Norma McCorvey is the real name of the woman known as “Jane Roe” in the landmark US supreme court case on abortion rights, Roe v Wade. The 1973 case established a right for US women to have abortions. McCorvey became the plaintiff after she met with two lawyers looking for a test case to challenge Texas’s abortion ban. That was in 1970. At the time, McCorvey was pregnant, unwed, unemployed and unable to obtain an abortion legally or otherwise.

Continued at source: The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/25/could-roe-v-wade-be-overturned-and-abortion-outlawed-in-the-us

25.02.2017

Dutch minister calls on UK to join safe abortion fund after Trump ban

Dutch minister calls on UK to join safe abortion fund after Trump ban

Twenty countries aim to raise $600m to fill gap left by Donald Trump’s ban on funding for pro-abortion NGOs in developing world

Jennifer Rankin in Brussels
Friday 24 February 2017

The Dutch government has voiced hope that the UK will join 20 countries to set up a safe abortion fund to fill the gap left by Donald Trump’s “global gag rule”.

Lilianne Ploumen, the Dutch international development minister, is leading an international campaign to raise $600m (£480m) to compensate for the Trump administration’s ban on funding for NGOs that provide abortion or information on the procedure to women in developing countries.

Continued at source: The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/feb/24/dutch-minister-calls-on-uk-to-join-campaign-for-safe-abortion-fund

‘I decide’: Jane Roe and the struggle for autonomy

‘I decide’: Jane Roe and the struggle for autonomy

Jon O’Brien
Catholics for Choice
Feb 24, 2017

"I wasn’t the wrong person to become Jane Roe, I wasn’t the right person to become Jane Roe. I was just the person who became Jane Roe, of Roe v Wade.’ (I Am Roe: My Life, Roe v Wade, and Freedom of Choice, by Norma McCorvey and Andy Meisler, 1994.)

On 18 February, Norma Leah McCorvey – better known as Jane Roe of the landmark US Supreme Court case Roe v Wade – died in Katy, Texas at the age of 69. During her life McCorvey was both a symbol of perseverance and a target of derision for many people. Those who once hailed her wound up deriding her, and vice versa: she was patient zero of the modern pro-choice movement, though she later became one of the most forceful voices of the anti-choice opposition. She was a bisexual in a committed relationship who later became a born-again Christian denouncing her sexuality, and who later still became a Catholic eschewing her born-again identity. She was written off as a naive tool of more powerful forces, slandered by former associates as a money-hungry opportunist, and hailed as an advocate par excellence by those on the left and right of the political spectrum.

Continued at source: Spiked: http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/i-decide-jane-roe-and-the-struggle-for-autonomy/19493#.WLBiNbqXDMh

24.02.2017

Safe Abortion Information Hotlines

Safe Abortion Information Hotlines

All the hotlines listed below provide free, safe and reliable information about unwanted pregnancy, abortion and post-abortion care, and many also provide information about contraception and emergency contraception. Hotline volunteers have been trained and provide accurate information from reliable sources in confidence, especially the World Health Organization. They are aware of national laws and policies, and the situation for services. They can advise women on how to use medical abortion pills safely, and how to seek help if it is needed.

Please contact us if you know of a hotline number that is not listed here – it may save a woman’s life.

Continued at source: International Campaign foc Women's Right to Safe Abortion: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/safe-abortion-3/safe-abortion-information-hotlines/

24.02.2017

abortion pills by mail

online abortion

safe abortion hotlines

Guatemala: The Last Resort Women Are Turning to Because of Illegal Abortion

The Last Resort Women Are Turning to Because of Illegal Abortion
February 24th 2017
By: Charles Davis

A pregnant woman in Guatemala generally has one legal option: give birth. In Guatemala abortion, as in much of Latin America, is illegal except when the authorities determine it necessary to save the mother’s life. In practice that means only the rich, or those who can afford a flight to Miami, can exercise their right to choose in a manner that is safe.

Those who are poor — nearly half the country lives on $1.50 a day — are forced to exercise their reproductive rights in a rather more dangerous way: in unlicensed clinics that, according to the Guttmacher Institute, send a third of the estimated 65,000 people who use them each year to the hospital with complications.

Some women with a boat want to help change that.

Continued at source: ATTN: http://www.attn.com/stories/15199/women-are-using-boat-provide-abortions-americas

Guatemala blocks entry to Dutch ship providing abortions

Guatemala blocks entry to Dutch ship providing abortions
Fri Feb 24, 2017

Guatemala's army detained a boat carrying a supply of abortion pills on Thursday and prevented it from picking up women seeking to end their pregnancies, saying the move was prohibited by the country's constitution.

The boat, operated by Dutch nonprofit Women on Waves, was in military custody with some of its seven crew members still aboard, after landing at a private pier at the Port of San Jose, 75 miles (120 km) south of the capital, said Leticia Zenevich, a spokeswoman for the group.

Continued at source: Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-guatemala-abortion-idUSKBN163080

Guatemalan army declare they will denounce the abortion ship without legal grounds

Guatemalan army declare they will denounce the abortion ship without legal grounds
Feb 23, 2017
Women on Waves

The abortion ship has all required permits to enter, stay and leave Guatemala and has arrived safely yesterday at harbour Marina Pez Vela. Access to the boat has been shut down during the press conference. As the activists started the press conference, they were expelled from the venue by the administration of Marina Pez Vela without further explanations. Since the actions started this morning, a series of violations have been perpetrated against the boat campaign. The abortion ship is now detained. These actions not only have no legal grounds but also constitute a serious breach of the International Convention of the Sea, freedom of expression (Article 18 of the International Declaration of Human Rights), freedom of movement and Guatemalan citizens' right to movement. The Guatemalan army has declared they will denounce the abortion ship, which has no legal grounds.

Despite the fact that the abortion ship has followed all regulations, the ship was detained and the Guatemalan army has promised to denounce the boat and are now obstructing a lawful protest against the State's restrictions on the Guatemalan women's right to safe abortion.

According to the International Convention of Sea a ship can only be detained on the bases of civil proceedings and environmental pollution and not for any activities that concern the transport of people on board the ship. So there are no legal grounds on which the abortion ship can be detained or arrested (1).

The ship campaign, a joint action brought together by Women on Waves and Guatemalan organisations, aims to highlight the violation of human rights caused by the existing abortion laws in Guatemala. All abortions that can be performed onboard are carried on in international waters, where the boat is under European law and outside the jurisdiction of Guatemala.

Continued at source: Women on Waves: http://www.womenonwaves.org/en/page/6588/in-collection/2604/guatemalan-army-declare-they-will-denounce-the-abortion-ship-without-legal-groun

New Zealand Is Pro-choice on Abortion

New Zealand Is Pro-choice on Abortion

February 23, 2017
Terry Bellamak

This Opinion piece is by Terry Bellamak, National President of the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ)

It’s official. This government is out of step with New Zealanders on abortion. Bill English has made his views clear.

As a devout Catholic, he opposes decriminalising abortion. But the people he hopes will vote for him later this year think differently.* The Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ) recently commissioned a poll on attitudes to abortion to find out two things:

Continued at source: Werewolf: http://werewolf.co.nz/2017/02/new-zealand-is-pro-choice-on-abortion/

23.02.2017