Dozens of Hungarian women travel to Austria for abortions every week, amid tightening laws

Abortions are legal in Hungary but humiliating treatment and waiting lists prompt women to terminate their pregnancies outside of the country, women and experts told Euronews. Their main destination is Austria.

By Lili Rutai
16/08/2023

“I was sure I didn’t want to go through this procedure in Hungary,” Adri, 32, who asked to be identified only by her first name, says. She lives in an agglomeration of Budapest, works as a life coach and raises her son alone. She got pregnant again, two years ago, and decided to get an abortion.

Surgical abortions are legal until the 12th week in Hungary but women are required to attend two mandatory meetings with a state service. The first one is to inform them of other opportunities, including adoption, Réka Lebedi, a lawyer at Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ), a human rights NGO, explained. The second’s purpose is to inform them of the dangers of the surgery.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/08/16/dozens-of-hungarian-women-travel-to-austria-for-abortions-every-week-amid-tightening-laws


Europe’s growing abortion nightmare

Even in the absence of a ban, for women in need of abortion access, the overall picture is grim — and the worst is yet to come.

JULY 1, 2023
Reporting for this article was carried out by Akmaljon Akhmedjonov, Bernadeta Barokova, Yijing Chen, Pius Fozan, Timotheus Paul Goldinger, Kristina Kovalska, Leila Lawrence, Hanna Perenyi, Carina Samhaber, Stephanie Songer, Marziyeh Taeb, Tripti and Joseph Scioli, masters and PhD students at the Central European University in Vienna, under the editorship of Professor Marius Dragomir.

When she was 19 years old, Anna Peer had an abortion after her intrauterine device malfunctioned. “I didn’t realize at the time how lucky and privileged I was,” said Peer, now 24. “My gynecologist basically carried me through everything.”

But through her work for the Austrian Family Planning Association (ÖGF), an NGO that provides counseling related to reproductive health, Peer now sees “what the system’s actually like.”

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/europes-growing-abortion-nightmare/


Women of colour endure discrimination in Austria’s gynecological care

Women with a migration background may be receiving wrong information about reproduction

Written by Fausia A.
Posted 8 April 2021

Abortion is legal in Austria within the first three months of pregnancy after consultation with a doctor. And every year, around 30,000 abortions are performed in Austria. Women of colour make up for more than a third of those who undergo an abortion, and nearly half of them were not born in Austria. Why is this?

According to a report by Austrian gynecologist Dr. Christian Fiala, 40 per cent of immigrants use effective prevention methods in comparison to 58 per cent of people born in Austria. It is considered the first, and to date, the only, representative study on the topic of sexuality and prevention in Austria for people aged between 16 and 49 years old.

Continued: https://globalvoices.org/2021/04/08/women-of-colour-endure-discrimination-in-austrias-gynecological-care/


In Austria, a unique museum in the world dedicated to contraception and abortion

by Bhavi Mandalia 
September 28, 2020

The Austrian capital is home to a museum that is unique in the world: that of contraception and abortion. This little private museum was created in 2007 by gynecologist Christian Fiala who practiced in several African countries before settling in Vienna. He started from a simple observation: the history of contraception and that of abortion remain unknown for many.

Christian Fiala therefore decided to collect various objects that he exhibits by contextualizing them to allow visitors to better understand their fertility in order to better protect themselves.

Continued: https://pledgetimes.com/in-austria-a-unique-museum-in-the-world-dedicated-to-contraception-and-abortion/


Austria – Vatican women’s team refuses to play after anti-abortion protest

Vatican women’s team refuses to play after anti-abortion protest

Published June 23, 2019

The newly formed Vatican women’s team called off a friendly football match in Vienna after several Austrian players protested the church’s anti-abortion stance, an Austrian football official said Sunday.

The Vatican side, which was founded this year, refused to play Saturday after three Austrians lifted their shirts to reveal pro-choice messages painted on their stomachs and backs when the anthems were played before kick-off, said Ernst Lackner, chairman of Vienna’s Mariahilf team.

Continued: https://punchng.com/vatican-womens-team-refuses-to-play-after-anti-abortion-protest/


Germany’s medical system sidelines abortion

Germany's medical system sidelines abortion
Abortion doctors can be hard to find in Germany. In some cities there are none, and their number appears to be declining, while medical schools often fail to teach the procedure so crucial to women. Papayas help a bit.

Date 11.05.2018
Author Nancy Isenson

Around 101,200 abortions were performed in Germany in 2017, or 277 each day. It's not exactly a rare procedure. Which is why future doctor Alicia Baier was disturbed to find that abortion played virtually no role in her studies at Berlin's Charité university medical school.

"In six years of studies, in which we learn many details that we will not need later, we learn almost nothing about such an important intervention," she says.

Continued: http://www.dw.com/en/germanys-medical-system-sidelines-abortion/a-43702057


MUVS Photography Competition: Stock Photos on Abortion


MUVS Photography Competition: Stock Photos on Abortion

Dec 28, 2017

Abortion is still a taboo: The topic is annoying, polarizing, stigmatizing, and even criminalizes women. Media coverage on abortion represents a one-sided visual language for a simple reason: Little to no useful stock photo material is available to depict the reality of this part of life. Therefore, MUVS Vienna is reaching out to obtain photographs that illustrate the critical situation of a woman (or couple) with an unwanted pregnancy in a realistic way. Photographers are invited to grapple with the difficult topic of unwanted pregnancy and abortion in a creative way. MUVS wants this competition to contribute in a useful and important way to the further destigmatisation of abortion.

There was a lot of positive, appreciative feedback, and the images submitted illustrate just how heterogeneous the theme is. A four-person jury, from the fields of journalism, photography, art and medicine selected the three main prize winners and awarded an additional three commendation prizes.

The winner of our photo competition, Christina Lag-Schröckenstein, together with her model, Veronika, was presented with her prize in a low-key event at the MUVS. The photographer saw it as a challenge to approach with sensitivity and understanding a competition whose intention it was to objectively illustrate the life circumstances of women affected by unwanted pregnancies, and to thus create a counterpoint to the so far one-sided portrayal of this topic in the media. The photographer made it her goal to depict a self-aware woman who reaches her decisions autonomously and without any outside influence. An undertaking she succeeded in, and which was appreciated by the four people on the jury.

The winning photos and further information can be found at http://abortion-pictures.info/en/.

Source: http://en.muvs.org/museum/muvs-photography-competition/


Winning Abortion Photos Available for Free Use

Winning Abortion Photos Available for Free Use
Dec 28, 2017
Christina Lag-Schrockenstein 1st prize MUVS-Vienna

The Museum of Contraception and Abortion in Vienna, known as MUVS, has announced the winners of its abortion photo contest.

Ten winning photographs on abortion are available for free use in illustrating stories and articles on abortion and unplanned pregnancy. These stock photos were selected to expand the exceedingly limited visual vocabulary that is seen in public imagery, as described in an earlier blog.

Continued at source: https://wordsofchoice.blogspot.ca/2017/12/winning-abortion-photos-available-for.html


This Boat Sails Women Into International Waters To Give Abortions

This Boat Sails Women Into International Waters To Give Abortions
“Abortion is a matter of social justice.”

By Sarah Ruiz-Grossman
May 05, 2017

A tiny nonprofit is bringing major attention to some countries’ restrictive reproductive health laws by delivering abortion pills to women ― in international waters.

Dutch group Women on Waves navigates its 36-foot sailboat to the coasts of countries that restrict abortion, brings women aboard, and sails them into international waters to give them abortion pills for free. Women on Waves steers its passengers more than 12 miles off the coast, where the boat operates under the laws of its country’s flag ― Austria, which allows abortion during the first three months of pregnancy.

Continued at source: Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/women-on-waves-abortion-boat_us_590b8338e4b0d5d9049a857c


Project: On Abortion by Laia Abril

Project: On Abortion by Laia Abril

Written by Izabela Radwanska Zhang
Published on 4 May 2017

Every year, some 47,000 women die from backstreet abortions because of a lack of legal or free access: in her project, Abril shows the after-effects of this experience. This article was first published in the May issue of BJP

Laia Abril is no stranger to themes of distress. Bulimia, coping with the death of a child, the asexual community, virtual sex-performer couples – these are all topics that the Barcelona-based photographer has explored and attempted to demystify with her multi-layered, story-based practice. The subjects she tackles are complex and provocative, but ones she is able to connect with by way of female empathy, “where I can be involved emotionally”, she says.

Continued at source: http://www.bjp-online.com/2017/05/project-on-abortion-by-laia-abril/