India – Sexual abuse of girls followed by refusal of abortion: adding insult to injury

India – Sexual abuse of girls followed by refusal of abortion: adding insult to injury
Aug 4, 2017
by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion

On 28 July, the case of a 10-year-old girl who became pregnant after being sexual abused by her uncle hit the news in India. According to reports, the family approached the district court in Chandigarh for permission for the child to have an abortion in the first part of July. It took until 15 July for the judge to order a medical board to examine the girl and submit a report on the feasibility of an abortion. Yet the feasibility of an abortion should never have been in question.

To make matters worse, the response of the medical board was clinically inaccurate and in some remarks seemed to be anti-abortion. They made doing an abortion appear to be more dangerous than if the child carried the pregnancy to term. And it led the judge, who seemed not to know better, to refuse the abortion.

Continued at source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/india-sexual-abuse-of-girls-followed-by-refusal-of-abortion/


US anti-abortion group quietly fights bid to end El Salvador’s draconian ban

US anti-abortion group quietly fights bid to end El Salvador's draconian ban

- Human Life International has been directing funds to El Salvador since 2000
-Thousands of women have been denied abortions even in cases of rape

Molly Redden and Nina Lakhani

Thursday 27 July 2017

El Salvador’s absolute ban on abortion – long considered one of the world’s most ruthless – is facing its greatest challenge in years. Buoyed by shifting public attitudes, reproductive rights activists are making headway on a bill to loosen the law for victims of rape and human trafficking, women carrying nonviable pregnancies, and women who risk death or illness.

But support for keeping the ban is formidable – and may have an outside source of help: a US-based anti-abortion group that has quietly funneled funds to El Salvador’s main advocates for the ban.

Continued at source: The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/27/el-salvador-abortion-ban-human-life-international


Chile: The Senate has agreed two days to debate and vote on the abortion law reform bill

The Senate has agreed two days to debate and vote on the abortion law reform bill
by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
July 18, 2017

The Chilean Senate in committee is moving again on the abortion bill. This bill has gone further in the legislative process than any previous one since democracy was reinstituted in Chile. The current Committee set the dates of 17 July from 3pm to 9pm and 18 July from 3pm until the debate closes with a vote, to discuss the bill yet again and finalise its clauses. First, on 17 July, reports on the discussions in the previous months in the Commissions on Health, Constitution and Finance were tabled by their chairs.

Some Senators are talking about trying to bring back clauses that were rejected in these previous rounds of debate – some want to bring back in more liberal clauses, others more restrictive ones. One point of continuing contention is how many staff in an abortion clinic can claim conscientious objection. One senator stated he was going to vote against rape as a legal ground.

Observers on both sides of the question were in the balcony watching the proceedings, which are ongoing as we write this. When this session finalises the clauses in the bill, it will be reviewed by the entire Senate.

Claudia Dides, Director of Corporación Miles said: “We are very pleased to have reached this stage, in spite of the years of delay on the part of the most conservative sectors. There are some things we don’t like, but this is certainly positive news and we hope that on 18 July they will approve the three grounds of the bill , including the ground of rape”.

It is now two and a half years since the bill was first tabled by President Michelle Bachelet in January 2015.

SOURCE: Miles Chile, 13 July 2017 ; VISUAL ; Look for breaking news on 18 July on @Safe_Abortion and safeabortionwomensright


Source: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/the-senate-has-agreed-two-days-to-debate-and-vote-on-the-abortion-law-reform-bill/


India: 19-year-old rape survivor seeks high court nod to abort

19-year-old rape survivor seeks high court nod to abort

TNN | Updated: Jul 5, 2017

AHMEDABAD: A 19-year-old rape survivor from near Godhra has approached Gujarat high court seeking permission to terminate her 24-week pregnancy.

The girl has complained that she is "totally innocent and will have to face punishment for her entire life for the crime committed by someone else".

Continued at source: Times of India: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/19-year-old-rape-survivor-seeks-hc-nod-to-abort/articleshow/59448172.cms


Northern Irish appeal court refuses limited lifting of abortion ban

Northern Irish appeal court refuses limited lifting of abortion ban

Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
Thursday 29 June 2017

Three appeal court judges have refused to legalise abortions in Northern Ireland’s hospitals in cases where women are made pregnant through rape or where pregnancies are doomed due to fatal foetal abnormality.

The ruling in the court of appeal in Belfast also passed on responsibility for any changes to the region’s strict anti-abortion regime to a Stormont assembly that may not exist after Thursday’s devolution deadline.

Continued at source: The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/29/northern-irish-appeal-court-refuses-limited-lifting-of-abortion-ban


India: Minor raped, dies after botched abortion in Telangana

Minor raped, dies after botched abortion in Telangana

By Express News Service | Published: 11th June 2017

KHAMMAM: In a shocking incident, a mentally-challenged girl, who was allegedly sexually assaulted and impregnated by a person and was forced to undergo an abortion by the village panchayat in Kallur mandal of the district, died of infection that spread after she underwent abortion. The incident, once again, came to the fore about the `instant justice’ delivered by local panchayats.

According to Kallur police, the 15-year-old girl hails from Errapandira village of Kallur mandal. The girl’s parents are daily wage workers. Taking advantage of the absence of her parents, a 24-year-old youth of the village, M Chennakeshavulu befriended the girl and started exploiting her sexually. This went on for more than six months and in April, the parents of the girl noticed that she was a pregnant.

Continued at source: New India Express: http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/2017/jun/11/minor-raped-dies-after-botched-abortion-in-telangana-1615401.html


India: 10-Year-Old Haryana Girl, Raped By Stepfather, Undergoes Abortion

10-Year-Old Haryana Girl, Raped By Stepfather, Undergoes Abortion
The 10-year-old living in Haryana's Rohtak, said her stepfather has been sexually assaulting her for a long time.

All India | Edited by Divyanshu Dutta Roy | Updated: May 19, 2017

The 10-year-old girl, raped by her stepfather, was five months into the pregnancy,
Rohtak: A 10-year-old Rohtak girl, who was found to be five months pregnant after being allegedly raped by her stepfather, underwent an abortion today, after the district court had left the decision to a panel of doctors. "The process (of abortion) is complete now. The girl is recovering," said the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) Rohtak doctor, Prashant Kumar.

The medical board of PGIMS on May 16 had decided to abort the foetus of the girl after the district court left it to the panel of doctors to take a call on the matter.

Continued at source: NDTV: http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/10-year-old-haryana-girl-raped-by-stepfather-undergoes-abortion-1695879


Indian court allows 10-year-old rape victim to have an abortion

Indian court allows 10-year-old rape victim to have an abortion
Girl had crossed 20-week legal limit after which terminations are usually only allowed if there is danger to life of mother or baby

Agence France-Presse

Wednesday 17 May 2017

A 10-year-old girl who was raped will be allowed to have an abortion even though she has crossed the 20-week limit for terminations in India, police in the country said on Wednesday.

The child has said she was repeatedly raped by her stepfather, who has since been arrested.

Continued at source: The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/17/indian-court-allows-10-year-old-victim-to-have-an-abortion