USA – ‘I Didn’t Tell a Soul’: Illegal Abortion Then and Now

‘I Didn’t Tell a Soul’: Illegal Abortion Then and Now

Jul 31, 2018
Lauren Holter

Jo Baxter had an illegal abortion in 1965. Now she fears the country is reverting back to a time when women couldn’t legally end a pregnancy.

Terror: That was the only emotion Jo Baxter remembers feeling as she drove from Nebraska to Kansas. It was a Saturday morning in 1965—eight years before abortion was legalized in the United States—when the college junior got into a car with her boyfriend and another friend who agreed to drive the six hours so Baxter could get an illegal abortion from a man she’d never met.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2018/07/31/i-didnt-tell-a-soul-illegal-abortion-then-and-now/


Ireland – Appeal Court rejects attempt to test abortion referendum result

Appeal Court rejects attempt to test abortion referendum result
Application allowing challenge to Yes vote rejected by three judges of Court of Appeal

July 31, 2018
Mary Carolan

A Co Leitrim man has lost his appeal aimed at allowing him challenge the Yes result of the abortion referendum. It was rejected by three judges of the Court of Appeal.

A conditional stay on the result being formally certified applies until August 17th to facilitate any further appeal to the Supreme Court by Diarmuid McConville.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/appeal-court-rejects-attempt-to-test-abortion-referendum-result-1.3582323


CÔTE D’IVOIRE – Ivoire Soir.net publishes an exclusive story: text of a draft bill on sexual and reproductive health, including abortion

CÔTE D’IVOIRE – Ivoire Soir.net publishes an exclusive story: text of a draft bill on sexual and reproductive health, including abortion

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
July 31, 2018

Background

Under the Penal Code of Côte d’Ivoire, Law No. 81-640, 31 July 1981, abortion is prohibited except to save the life of the pregnant woman, if it is seriously endangered. Although this implies that it is an emergency situation, the attending physician must consult two additional physicians, who must certify that her life can only be saved by a surgical/therapeutic abortion. If only one other physician resides in the local area, the attending physician need only consult with this physician. If the treating physician is the only physician locally, s/he must certify on her/his honour that the life of the woman can only be saved by an abortion. The Penal Code also prohibits promotion of abortion by means of public discussion or advertisement or by distribution or sale of substances or objects. But it no longer contains similar restrictions on contraception that were enacted by the French colonial government in 1920.

Continued: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/cote-divoire-ivoire-soir-net-publishes-an-exclusive-story-text-of-a-draft-bill-on-sexual-and-reproductive-health-including-abortion


BURKINA FASO – Interview with Mariam Nonguerma/Zorome, President of the Burkinabe Association of Midwives

BURKINA FASO – Interview with Mariam Nonguerma/Zorome, President of the Burkinabe Association of Midwives

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
July 31, 2018

The extent of illegal abortion in Burkina is terrible because of the disastrous consequences of these abortions, including haemorrhage, sepsis, uterine perforation and even death. Sometimes girls come to our health centres from disastrous situations, bleeding. But when they present themselves, they do not confess that it is due to an induced abortion. And it is only following examination that one realises it was an abortion induced clandestinely. So, we do not distinguish between the different types of terminations, whether miscarriages or induced, but work to try to save the life of the woman and the child.

Continued: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/burkina-faso-interview-with-mariam-nonguerma-zorome-president-of-the-burkinabe-association-of-midwives/


UK – Women ‘illegally taking abortion pill at home’

Women 'illegally taking abortion pill at home'

By Jean Mackenzie
Victoria Derbyshire programme
31 July 2018

Women are illegally taking abortion pills, which they have bought online, at home to avoid enduring abortions on public transport. In England, abortion pills must be administered in a clinic or hospital. For some this means the pill can take effect on their journey home.

Campaigners say women should be able to take the second pill at home, as buying pills online can be dangerous. The Department of Health said it was monitoring the evidence on home use.

Continued: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45007707


How Trump’s abortion gag rule policy impacts the global AIDS crisis

How Trump's abortion gag rule policy impacts the global AIDS crisis

By Rory Smith, CNN
Tue July 31, 2018

(CNN)New findings presented last week at the 22nd International AIDS Conference reveal how President Donald Trump's expansion of the so-called global gag rule -- which restricts US health assistance funding to non-US NGOs that offer abortion services -- is likely to have widescale negative effects on the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Four hundred seventy non-US NGOs working in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS across the world might be subject to the expanded global gag rule, according to new data presented at the conference. These organizations received $900 million from fiscal year 2013 to fiscal year 2015.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/31/health/trumps-gag-rule-effects-hiv-aids-intl/index.html


Brazil: Decriminalize Abortion

Brazil: Decriminalize Abortion
Court Considering Petition to Expand Access

July 31, 2018

(São Paulo) – Brazil’s abortion laws are incompatible with its human rights obligations, Human Rights Watch said today, releasing a video about the issue. Human Rights Watch will speak at a public hearing on August 3 and 6, 2018, as part of a Supreme Court case challenging the criminalization of abortion in Brazil in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Human Rights Watch will urge the court to consider Brazil’s obligations under international law in reaching its ruling.

Abortion is legal in Brazil only in cases of rape, when necessary to save a woman’s life, or when the fetus suffers from anencephaly – a fatal congenital brain disorder. Women and girls who terminate pregnancies under any other circumstances face up to three years in prison.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/31/brazil-decriminalize-abortion


USA – Three Children, Two Abortions

Three Children, Two Abortions
What a woman chooses to do with her body should not be up for debate in 2018.

Deborah Copaken
Jul 31, 2018

At this point in my 52 years, filling out the forms at the doctor’s office feels like writing a memoir. Any past surgeries? Why, yes. So many! Here we go, in alphabetical order, to the tune of “Twelve Days of Christmas”: one adenoidectomy, one appendectomy, two D-and-C’s, one frenectomy, one hysterectomy, one inguinal-hernia repair, one meniscectomy, one Morton’s-neuroma repair, one trachelectomy, one vaginal-cuff-dehiscence repair … and a partridge in a pear tree. That’s 11 surgeries, eight of which were related either to my children’s births or to disease of my postpartum reproductive organs. We’ll get back to that.

Then comes the inevitable question: Number of pregnancies? Followed by: Number of live births?

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/07/three-children-two-abortions/566270/


“Is this Australia? Is this 2018?”

"Is this Australia? Is this 2018?"

Alex Bruce-Smith
2018-07-30

The woman fired by Cricket Australia (CA) for tweeting about abortion has started a petition calling for safe, affordable and legal access to the fundamental service.

Angela Williamson, 39, became one of the first Tasmanians forced to travel interstate for an abortion, after the last centre closed late last year.

Continued: https://tendaily.com.au/news/australia/a180730fel/thousands-sign-abortion-petition-from-woman-sacked-by-cricket-australia-20180730


Do Americans Support Abortion? A New Poll Shows Stunning Results About Voters

Do Americans Support Abortion? A New Poll Shows Stunning Results About Voters

By Hannah Golden
July 30, 2018

As voters are preparing to head to the polls in November for the midterm elections, the fates of a handful of senators are tied up in the nomination of a new Supreme Court justice. The stance of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's nominee for the seat, on abortion in particular has caught the attention of voters, according to a new poll. The findings of the survey, released Monday, July 30, make it clear just how much Americans support abortion and indicate how this might play out in November.

The poll was conducted by Civis Analytics on behalf of the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPFA). The online survey, conducted on July 25, included responses from 2,438 likely voters, including Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

Continued: https://www.elitedaily.com/p/do-americans-support-abortion-a-new-poll-shows-stunning-results-about-voters-9931348