South Korean Court Says Abortion Ban Unconstitutional

South Korean Court Says Abortion Ban Unconstitutional

April 11, 2019
William Gallo

SEOUL — A top South Korean court has ruled that the country’s criminal ban on abortion is unconstitutional. The ruling means the 66-year-old law could be nullified by the end of next year.

South Korea is one of very few developed countries with an anti-abortion law. That’s in large part because of an influential evangelical Christian community.

Continued: https://www.voanews.com/a/south-korea-court-strikes-down-abortion-ban/4871135.html


‘Death sentence for women’: Alabama proposes law to make abortion punishable by up to 99 years in prison

'Death sentence for women': Alabama proposes law to make abortion punishable by up to 99 years in prison
Bill would even criminalise performing abortions in cases of rape and incest

Maya Oppenheim, Women's Correspondent
Apr 4, 2019

Alabama is proposing a law that would make carrying out an abortion at any stage of the pregnancy punishable by 10 to 99 years in jail.

The strict abortion ban, which has been branded a “death sentence for women”, would even criminalise performing abortions in cases of rape and incest.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alabama-abortion-crime-pregnancy-trump-administration-us-a8854716.html


USA – 250 Abortion Restrictions Have Been Introduced In The U.S. This Year Alone, Report Says

250 Abortion Restrictions Have Been Introduced In The U.S. This Year Alone, Report Says

Andrea González-Ramírez
April 1, 2019

Amid constant news of unconstitutional abortion bans like Georgia's "fetal heartbeat bill," passed on Friday, a new report found that anti-choice lawmakers in 41 states have introduced over 250 bills restricting access to abortion care in the first months of 2019 alone. The report was released on Wednesday by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Guttmacher Institute.

For years, conservative lawmakers have relentlessly introduced and passed measures such as waiting periods, targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws, limits on abortion medication, and restrictions that dictate at which point in their pregnancies women can terminate them. The anti-choice crusade has led to an uptick in abortion deserts, places where people have to travel 100 miles or more to access care. A total of six states has been left with only one abortion provider to serve the entire state.

Continued: https://www.refinery29.com/en-ca/2019/04/228554/abortion-restrictions-41-states-georgia-fetal-heartbeat-bill-report


Brazilian women break taboo to talk about illegal abortions

Brazilian women break taboo to talk about illegal abortions

By Renata Brit, Sarah DiLorenzo
The Associated Press on January 4, 2018

RIO DE JANEIRO — The doctor was late. So the women sat quietly in the waiting area of a clinic in an upscale neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro until they were overcome by thoughts of what they were about to do and what might happen to them. They began to talk.

One woman said she was in a relationship with a drug lord and knew he would force her to have “his” baby if he found out she was pregnant. Another was a successful businesswoman who had separated from her children’s father and become pregnant accidentally by another man. A third just cried.

continued at source: http://www.canadianinquirer.net/2018/01/04/brazilian-women-break-taboo-to-talk-about-illegal-abortions/


Trinidad & Tobago: Concern over illegal sale of abortion drug

Concern over illegal sale of abortion drug

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Abortion is illegal in T&T under the Offences Against The Person Act. The law states that a pregnant woman who "with intent to procure her own miscarriage, unlawfully administers to herself any poison or other noxious thing or unlawfully uses any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent is liable to four years in prison."

Continued at Source: Guardian Media: http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2017-09-04/concern-over-illegal-sale-abortion-drug


The Great Coalition for Equality and Choice joins forces in Poland

The Great Coalition for Equality and Choice joins forces in Poland
by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
May 9, 2017

The Great Coalition for Equality and Choice, consisting of over 80 non-governmental organizations from all over Poland, has been established as a reaction to an offensive by anti-women groups. These threatening actions include regular draft bills directly attacking the life and health of women, restricting access to emergency contraception, frightening doctors in their workplaces, shocking anti-abortion campaigns, fighting against comprehensive sexuality education, as well as the systemic weakening of the protection of women against domestic violence. These actions call for active and organized resistance on the part of civil society.

We draw our strength from the 200 year old tradition of female political and civic activities. We have the knowledge and practical NGO experience, as well as the social energy of the pro-women’s rights protests of 2016 and 2017.

The Coalition’s goal is the comprehensive fight for women’s human rights: quick threat identification, coordination of legal activities, and building social awareness. The group demand sexuality education, good standards of perinatal care, the fullness of reproductive rights, and the total elimination of violence against women. In the coming weeks, we will shape the actions of the Coalition.

The current legal regulations on the termination of pregnancy do not work in practice. Almost every attempt to obtain a legal abortion encounters resistance from gynaecologists or hospitals directors. In 2015 the Constitutional Tribunal released doctors from the duty to refer the patient to another specialist who is able to perform the service. Now, entire public health care facilities, or even provinces, are entitled to claim “conscientious objection”. Desperate women head to foreign clinics, even when theoretically they have a right to a legal abortion in Poland. We will persist in trying to liberalize the law. We want 21st century Polish women to be able to have the same standards as other European women. Only ideology stands in the way.

The actions of anti-abortion activists penetrates deeper and deeper into the everyday lives of citizens. There is systematic pressure on hospitals performing abortions on medical grounds. The local authorities fail to react to anti-abortion propaganda in public spaces – for instance setting up large boards with photos of bloody remains of developed fetuses captioned “This is how children are being murdered in Polish hospitals”. Frequently, the image of Hitler is placed nearby, with a caption equating termination of pregnancy with the Holocaust, i.e. as the legacy of Nazism. Such campaigns are also openly directed at children. Dolls named “Little John” that are supposed to symbolize potential abortion victims are handed out in schools. Anti-abortion art competitions for children are also organized.

In hospitals, despite many complaints from women giving birth, there is no reaction to the so-called “defenders of life” visiting maternity wards. At the same time, standards of perinatal care are being disregarded, which in recent months has led to more deaths of women, reported as tragic accidents or medical errors. But that is not all. The lack of education and awareness in sexual health results in a rapid increase in sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, gonorrhoea, and until recently thought to have already been eliminated, syphilis. Furthermore, the typically female cancer screening programmes are being discontinued.

SOURCE: Federation for Women and Family Planning, 18 April 2017, in CEE Bulletin No.5 (164) 2017

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Source: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/the-great-coalition-for-equality-and-choice-joins-forces-in-poland/


Croatia refuses to ban abortion

Croatia refuses to ban abortion
02/03/2017

Croatia’s Constitutional Court has upheld a law allowing abortion, saying the legislation does not breach the country’s constitution.
However, the court urged parliament to pass new abortion legislation within two years.
The head of the Constitutional Court, Miroslav Separovic, told a news conference that current legislation allowing a woman to terminate up to the 10th week of pregnancy did not breach the constitution.

“It is not up to the Consitutional Court to rule when human life begins,” Separovic told reporters.

Continued at link: Euronews: http://www.euronews.com/2017/03/02/croatia-refuses-to-ban-abortion


Polish Minority Party Wants to Ban Abortions in Lithuania

Polish Minority Party Wants to Ban Abortions in Lithuania
February 28, 2017
by Human Rights Monitoring Institute

The party representing the Polish minority in Lithuania plans to submit a draft law that would make abortion illegal in the country.

Rita Tamašunienė and Valdemaras Tomaševkis, representatives of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania - Christian Families Alliance political group, announced on February 20 that they plan to submit a proposal to ban abortions this spring.

Continued at source: Liberties.eu: http://www.liberties.eu/en/news/lithuania-abortion-ban-initiative


Trump on 60 Minutes: if Roe v. Wade is overturned, women will “have to go to another state”

Updated by Emily Crockett, Nov 14, 2016, 10:11am EST

In an interview with CBS’s Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes, President-elect Donald Trump said he would appoint “pro-life” judges to the Supreme Court — and that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, women would “have to go to another state” if they want an abortion.

“If [Roe v. Wade] ever were overturned, it would go back to the states,” Trump said.

Stahl followed up: “But then some women won’t be able to get an abortion?”

“Yeah, well, they’ll perhaps have to go — they’ll have to go to another state,” Trump said.

“And that’s okay?” Stahl asked.

“Well, we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “It’s got a long way to go.”

[continued at link]
Source: Vox.com


U.N. Human Rights Committee Concerned by Poland’s Restrictive Abortion Law

Nov 4, 2016, Center for Reproductive Rights (PRESS RELEASE)

Women in Poland may face risks to their health and lives as a result of the country’s highly restrictive abortion law—according to a report released today by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (U.N. Committee).

The U.N. Committee expressed serious concerns about the high number of women in Poland seeking unsafe abortions, which could put their health and lives at risk, because of the country’s restrictive abortion law. The committee also stressed its concern regarding the serious barriers that women who seek access to abortion encounter, including the lengths women are forced to travel to access services.

[continued at link]
Source: Center for Reproductive Rights