India’s abortion law — ahead of its time in 1971 but now behind science, societal demands

India’s abortion law — ahead of its time in 1971 but now behind science, societal demands
Abortion has been legal for 48 years but is still not based on women's rights. Moreover, experts argue it isn't in line with current medical and societal standards.

Aneesha Bedi and Apoorva Mandhani
Updated: 3 June, 2019

New Delhi: Two years ago, in August 2017, the Supreme Court refused to grant permission to a 10-year-old school-going rape survivor from Chandigarh to abort her 32-week-old foetus. The apex court relied on a medical board report, which warned that abortion would risk the girl’s life.

This despite the girl having told the court that her body was not ready for childbirth. She was forced to deliver, giving birth to a baby girl soon after.

Continued: https://theprint.in/india/indias-abortion-law-ahead-of-its-time-in-1971-but-now-behind-science-societal-demands/244884/


USA – Unconstitutional, Trump-Backed 20-Week Abortion Ban Goes Down in Senate

Unconstitutional, Trump-Backed 20-Week Abortion Ban Goes Down in Senate

Jan 29, 2018
Christine Grimaldi

An unconstitutional 20-week abortion ban notable for attempting to legitimize junk science and foist onerous reporting requirements on rape and incest survivors came to a halt on Monday in the U.S. Senate.

The perennial GOP-sponsored legislation (S 2311) failed, 51-46, to reach the Senate’s 60-vote threshold typically required to advance controversial legislation around a filibuster. GOP Sens. Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK), who have mixed voting records on abortion rights, voted against the 20-week ban. Three Democrats—Sens. Joe Manchin (WV), Joe Donnelly (IN), and Bob Casey (PA)—crossed party lines to vote for it. Manchin and Donnelly both serve on the federal advisory board of Democrats For Life of America, an anti-choice group that uses conservative talking points and medically unsupported falsehoods about reproductive health care.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2018/01/29/unconstitutional-trump-backed-20-week-abortion-ban-goes-senate


USA: Senate Rejects Measure to Ban Abortion After 20 Weeks of Pregnancy

Senate Rejects Measure to Ban Abortion After 20 Weeks of Pregnancy

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
JAN. 29, 2018

WASHINGTON — The Senate rejected a bill on Monday to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, a largely symbolic vote aimed at forcing vulnerable Democrats to take a stand that could hurt their prospects for re-election in states won by President Trump.

By a vote of 51 to 46, the measure fell well short of the 60-vote threshold required for the Senate to break a Democratic filibuster. The outcome was not a surprise, and the vote fell mostly along party lines.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/us/politics/senate-abortion-ban-20-weeks.html


USA: Don’t be fooled: the latest abortion bill is about one thing – hurting women

Don't be fooled: the latest abortion bill is about one thing – hurting women
Jessica Valenti

There is no scientific basis for the proposed ban on abortions after 20 weeks. Rather, it is a naked attempt to challenge Roe v Wade and end all abortions

Thursday 5 October 2017

On Tuesday, the US House of Representatives passed a ban that would criminalize all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with punishment that would include fines and up to five years in prison.

The Majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, said that the goal of the bill was “ending suffering and helping people live”, an ironic sentiment just three days after Republicans let a health program expire that could leave millions of children without insurance and two days after a massacre in Las Vegas that the GOP insists has nothing to do with the shocking availability of guns.

Continued at source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/05/us-abortion-bill-20-weeks-criminalize-hurt-women


USA: Just After Las Vegas, Republicans Are Voting to Restrict … Abortion

Just After Las Vegas, Republicans Are Voting to Restrict ... Abortion

By Emily Crockett
Oct 3, 2017

On Tuesday, just after the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, House Republicans aren't spending the day debating gun legislation to try to save American lives. They aren't scrambling for better solutions to Puerto Rico's ongoing humanitarian crisis, either.

Instead, these "pro-life" lawmakers are voting to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy nationwide. The vote on the so-called Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act of 2017 was scheduled by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy early last week, but the attack in Las Vegas that killed 59 people and wounded more than 500 did nothing to change his plan. (The House is expected to delay a vote on a gun silencer bill that had been slated for this week.) The Trump White House even made a point of endorsing the abortion ban on Monday.

Continued at source: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/day-after-las-vegas-gop-is-voting-to-restrict-abortion-w506879


USA: Pro-Choice Groups Raise Alarm Ahead of House Vote to Ban Abortion After 20 Weeks

Pro-Choice Groups Raise Alarm Ahead of House Vote to Ban Abortion After 20 Weeks

Published on Monday, October 02, 2017
by Common Dreams

"Republicans in Congress failed to take healthcare from millions — so they're trying to ban abortion and take away bodily autonomy"
by Jessica Corbett, staff writer

As the Republican-controlled U.S. House prepares to vote Tuesday on a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy nationwide, reproductive rights advocates are urging Americans to contact their congressional representatives and pressure them to oppose the measure.

Continued at source: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/10/02/pro-choice-groups-raise-alarm-ahead-house-vote-ban-abortion-after-20-weeks


USA: Stop Using the Phrase “Late-Term Abortion”

Stop Using the Phrase "Late-Term Abortion"

It's misleading and medically inaccurate.
By Robin Marty
Oct 2, 2017

“Late-term abortion.” By now you have probably heard the phrase everywhere. In their third and final debate, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton fought over whether “late-term, partial birth” abortions, in the words of moderator Chris Wallace, should be legal in the United States. Media outlets publish the phrase regardless of whether the publication leans to the right or to the left. (Cosmopolitan has used it in the past too.) And while advocacy groups who oppose abortion use the term nonstop, well, even those that support abortion rights use it occasionally, too.

Continued at source: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a12766188/late-term-abortion-20-week-ban/