Euromapping 2018 report – Global funding for family planning at risk from US withdrawal

Euromapping 2018 report – Global funding for family planning at risk from US withdrawal

Eoghan Walsh
29th August 2018
Development Cooperation, Press Releases, Sexual and Reproductive Health

Euromapping 2018Euromapping 2018 report highlights the need for other global donors – the European Union and EU Member States – to increase their contributions to protect health of women and girls around the world.

Brussels, August 29, 2018: The latest Euromapping 2018 report on global funding for family planning (FP) and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) highlights the US as the world’s leading donor in this field, but that data does not accurately reflect the withdrawal from this field by the Trump presidency. The reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy, better known as the Global Gag Rule, in 2017 will accelerate a decline in US funding in the coming years. It is the responsibility of other global donors in Europe and the rest of the world to step up and make sure that life-saving funding for family planning, contraception and maternal health does not disappear.

Continued: http://www.dsw.org/en/2018/08/euromapping-2018-family-planning-trump-global-gag-rule/

Women’s bodies have become a battleground in the fight for Iran’s future

Women’s bodies have become a battleground in the fight for Iran’s future
A regressive law to boost the population has restricted the reproductive choices and rights of all Iranian women. Though some suffer more than others.

Zaynab H
29 August 2018

In the early 1990s, Iran had one of best family planning programmes in the developing world. From 1980 to 2010, it managed to cut the average number of children each woman bore from six and a half to two. But these gains have since been reversed and all Iranian women are suffering under regressive legislation passed in 2015. Though, of course, some are suffering more than others.

As a sexual and reproductive health and rights advocate, I have been working with marginalised women's collectives in underserved districts of Tehran for five years. I have seen how laws like The Comprehensive Population and Exaltation of Family Bill (or Bill 315, as it is known) most directly and severely affect the poorest women: sex workers, those with drug abuse issues, rural, migrant and ethnic minority women – those who were highly dependent on state provision of contraception.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/zaynab-h/womens-bodies-battleground-fight-for-iran-future

Nigeria – Stakeholders Charge Parents On Adolescents’ Sexuality Education

Stakeholders Charge Parents On Adolescents’ Sexuality Education

By Ijeoma Ukazu
On Aug 28, 2018

Stakeholders working with adolescents in Lagos State has charged parents to initiate early sexuality education for youths as well as adolescents in order to reduce deaths from unplanned pregnancy and unsafe abortions.

Speaking to journalists at an event in Lagos, the Executive Director, Youth Empowerment Foundation (YEF), Mr Iwalola Jimoh, stated in his presentation; “Creating Safe Spaces For Adolescents and Youths in Nigeria (Life skills for Adolescents and Youths,” that creating safe spaces for children and adolescents involves taking responsibility for children safety, building a continuous empo

Continued: https://thewhistler.ng/story/stakeholders-charge-parents-on-adolescents-sexuality-education/

Malawi Government asked to reform abortion law

Malawi Government asked to reform abortion law

By Martha Chikoti
on Aug 28, 2018

Different stakeholders came together on Saturday to push government to ensure that the Termination of Pregnancy Bill is tabled in Parliament in order to change abortion laws in Malawi.

Participants at a capacity building training workshop on reporting abortion in Lilongwe said the law has to be reformed in order to give power to health workers to terminate pregnancies in accordance to the law without facing challenges.

Continued: https://malawi24.com/2018/08/28/malawi-government-asked-to-reform-abortion-law/

Ireland – Abortion legislation could be delayed by further appeal

Abortion legislation could be delayed by further appeal
Joanna Jordan’s ‘reckless’ challenge to vote result dismissed by appeal court

Aug 28, 2018
Pat Leahy

Preparations to introduce abortion legislation and set up abortion services are continuing in the Department of Health while officials await a Friday deadline for a Supreme Court appeal against the result of the referendum to be lodged.

On Monday, in a strongly worded judgment, the Court of Appeal upheld a High Court decision earlier this summer which dismissed a challenge to the result of the abortion referendum.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-legislation-could-be-delayed-by-further-appeal-1.3610645

USA – For Many Women, a World Without Abortion Access Is Already Here

For Many Women, a World Without Abortion Access Is Already Here
Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court could make the procedure inaccessible to millions of U.S. women, but in many places that’s the case even now

by Nandita Raghuram and Neil deMause
August 28, 2018

What would life be like without Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that gave women in the U.S. the right to a legal abortion? This has become a common question ever since President Donald Trump nominated federal judge Brett Kavanaugh last month to replace the just-retired justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, with anti-abortion activists gearing up for a post-Roe world and defenders of abortion rights warning that if confirmed by the Senate next month, Kavanaugh could be the deciding vote to re-criminalize abortion.

If that were to happen, the United States would revert to a patchwork of local laws; only eight states — Maine, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, California, Nevada, Washington, and Hawaii — have laws that guarantee the right to abortion, while others have legislation in place that would immediately ban it.

Continued: https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/08/28/for-many-women-a-world-without-abortion-access-is-already-here/

USA – A Dire Situation for Women: The Future of Roe’s Legal Protections if Judge Kavanaugh Joins the Supreme Court

A Dire Situation for Women: The Future of Roe’s Legal Protections if Judge Kavanaugh Joins the Supreme Court
Fact Sheets

Aug 28, 2018

President Trump promised to nominate only Supreme Court justices who would “automatically” overturn Roe v. Wade, and his nominee Brett Kavanaugh has ruled to restrict women’s access to abortion. Kavanaugh’s confirmation would change the balance of the Supreme Court against access to abortion. Whether the newly constituted Court would overturn Roe or profess to uphold the right to abortion while severely undermining it, the result would be dire for women in this country.

Overturning Roe
If Judge Kavanaugh joins the Court and rules to overturn Roe v. Wade, women could be criminalized and punished in our country for having an abortion.

Continued: https://nwlc.org/resources/a-dire-situation-for-women/

Undaunted by Senate Loss, Argentine Abortion Advocates Forge New Tactics, Coalitions

Undaunted by Senate Loss, Argentine Abortion Advocates Forge New Tactics, Coalitions
Activists who want church-state separation are staging public withdrawals from the Catholic Church, a new web tool uses emojis to pinpoint legislators' abortion stance, and the fight to change the law may advance the case for sex education.

Aug 28, 2018
Carla McKirdy

On August 9, Argentina’s Senate rejected a bill that would have legalized abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Instead of feeling downtrodden, pro-choice activists are retooling and finding ingenious ways to keep the abortion issue at the forefront. From staging public renunciations of the Catholic Church, deploying social media to hold anti-abortion legislators accountable, and using the debate to advance comprehensive sexual education, they are making lemonade from the defeat.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2018/08/28/undaunted-by-senate-loss-argentine-abortion-advocates/

Ireland – Shareholders in private hospitals threaten legal action to block abortion laws

Shareholders in private hospitals threaten legal action to block abortion laws

27/08/2018

Minority shareholders in some private hospitals are threatening to block the new abortion laws in the courts.

They have outlined their demands in a letter to the Oireachtas Health Committee, saying they want their religious beliefs protected without being financially disadvantaged.

Continued: https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/shareholders-in-private-hospitals-threaten-legal-action-to-block-abortion-laws-864756.html

England Plans to Approve Home Use of Abortion Medication

England Plans to Approve Home Use of Abortion Medication
"This decision by the government will enable tens of thousands of women each year to complete their treatment in the comfort and privacy of their own home," said Richard Bentley, managing director at Marie Stopes UK.

Aug 27, 2018
Dennis Carter

People in England who are less than ten weeks into pregnancy will soon be able to take the second of two abortion pills at home, rather than making two trips to a clinic to take the medication — a requirement that has proven untenable and dangerous for those who live far from a clinic.

England’s policy on medication abortion will change by the end of 2018, BBC News reports. The announcement was made Saturday.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2018/08/27/england-plans-to-approve-home-use-of-abortion-medication/