USA – Er, Can I Ask a Few Questions About Abortion?

You know who really reduced abortion numbers in the U.S.? President Obama, with the Affordable Care Act.

By Nicholas Kristof, Opinion Columnist
Oct. 28, 2020

Millions of American Christians are likely to vote for President Trump on Tuesday because they believe it a religious obligation to support a president who will appoint “pro-life” judges.

But as I’ve observed before, there is an incipient rethinking underway in evangelical and Catholic circles about what it means to be “pro-life,” and let me try to add to that ferment. For the truth is that the litmus test approach to abortion on the part of many conservative Christians is anomalous, both religiously and historically.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/opinion/abortion-america-politics.html

Italy’s ‘fetus graves’ renew abortion debate

Discovery of burials women did not authorise highlights issues of stigma, Catholic groups’ influence and medical community’s failure.

By Virginia Pietromarchi
16 Oct 2020

Rome, Italy – The words on the crucifix read Francesca Rossi*. Yet Francesca Rossi was standing right in front of it, alive.

Many other wooden crosses bearing only a female name and a date were also stuck in the ground nearby, some dating back as far as 2004.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/10/16/italy-fetus-graves

India – Abortion is legal but coloured by prejudice: Malayalam short film ‘Aval’ shows you how

Abortion is legal but coloured by prejudice: Malayalam short film ‘Aval’ shows you how
The film is produced and co-written by a medical professional who says she has seen these violations happening for years.

Flix Cinema Monday, June 15, 2020 - 17:30
Sowmya Rajendran

Although India has fairly liberal laws when it comes to abortion, medical professionals are often hostile to women who approach them to get the procedure done. In cinema, too, abortion has been equated to murder far too many times. With the glorification of pregnancy and motherhood, this important reproductive right which gives women autonomy over their own bodies is demonised repeatedly.

A Malayalam short film called Aval, directed by Adarsh Kumar Aniyal (of Raven fame) and released on YouTube recently, presents the bitter truth about the issue. In the film, a young woman in an abusive marriage who did not want to keep her pregnancy, develops postpartum depression and ends up killing her child. Interestingly, the film has been produced and co-written by a medical professional, Dr Veena JS.

Continued: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/abortion-legal-coloured-prejudice-malayalam-short-film-aval-shows-you-how-126592

‘I almost lost my life because Maltese doctors refused to terminate an unviable pregnancy’

‘I almost lost my life because Maltese doctors refused to terminate an unviable pregnancy’

Posted byw4wmalta
September 26, 2019

While on holiday in Malta, Marion’s waters broke at 17 weeks of pregnancy. As infection set in and the danger of her dying became very real, doctors left everything ‘in God’s hands’ and refused to terminate her pregnancy.

This is the story of a woman who survived against all odds, and who cannot understand why in Malta it is more important to give birth to a dead foetus than to save the mother with the right medical care.

Continued: https://womenforwomenmalta.com/2019/09/26/welcome-to-womenforwomen/

New Zealand – Despair and Contempt: What it’s like to seek an abortion

Despair and Contempt: What it’s like to seek an abortion

By Paula Penfold
Apr 6, 2019

It’s such a ridiculously innocuous, unobtrusive looking thing, this piece of plastic with a felt-like tip. Years later when you want them, those two blue lines will make you smile.

But this is not then. This is too soon. Too terrifying.

I’m 21, fresh out of journalism school, starting my first job - a junior reporter in a radio newsroom in a small New Zealand town, still wearing my university op-shop clothes, earning less than $20,000 a year but eager, excited for what my career might hold.

Continued: https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2019/circuit/seeking-an-abortion/

South Africa’s Liberal Abortion Laws Affected by Public Disapproval

South Africa’s Liberal Abortion Laws Affected by Public Disapproval

March 31, 2019

“Precious” is 26-years-old and 16 weeks pregnant. She asked VOA to call her by that name to protect her identity.

Her best friend is also pregnant by the same man – a man Precious once considered her boyfriend. This information led her to the difficult decision to seek an abortion

Continued: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/south-africa-liberal-abortion-laws-affected-by-widespread-stigma/4849052.html

Legal, but… abortion access under threat in Catholic Croatia

Legal, but... abortion access under threat in Catholic Croatia

March 28, 2019

On paper, abortion has been legal in Croatia for decades. But in practice, it is becoming less available in the largely Catholic country where religious pressure is pushing doctors increasingly to refuse abortions on moral grounds.

"Why are gynaecologists obliged to do abortions? I don't really see a connection," said Boris Ujevic, a doctor at Zagreb's public Holy Spirit Hospital, when asked why he does not offer the procedure.

Continued: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-03-legal-abortion-access-threat-catholic.html

USA – ‘Not Dead Enough’: Public Hospitals Deny Life-Saving Abortion Care to People in Need

‘Not Dead Enough’: Public Hospitals Deny Life-Saving Abortion Care to People in Need
Many of the poorest and sickest patients end up at public hospitals when their pregnancies go wrong. But little-known laws leave people in need with nowhere to turn.

Mar 7, 2019
Amy Littlefield

When she arrived at the public hospital in Texas, the woman was so sick she couldn’t walk. About four months pregnant, she needed an abortion to save her life. A previous pregnancy had led to heart failure. This time she faced a higher risk of death from cardiac arrest that increased as the pregnancy advanced.

But the hospital’s leadership denied her the abortion she needed.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/03/07/not-dead-enough-public-hospitals-deny-life-saving-abortion-care-to-people-in-need/

‘Thousands’ of young girls denied abortion after rape in Argentina

'Thousands' of young girls denied abortion after rape in Argentina
Anti-choice doctors and health officials accused of obstructing legal terminations after 11-year-old girl gave birth to rapist’s child

Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires
Tue 5 Mar 2019

The lives of thousands of girls in Argentina are being put at risk as legal abortions are delayed and obstructed by doctors trying to force pregnancies to full term.

The issue of anti-choice doctors, medical institutions and government officials deliberately trying to hold up legally sanctioned terminations was brought into sharp focus last week when it emerged that an 11-year-old girl’s baby was born alive because health officials delayed her request for an abortion. The girl had fallen pregnant after being raped by her grandmother’s boyfriend.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/mar/05/thousands-young-girls-denied-abortion-argentina

An 11-year-old assault victim was forced to have a C-section in Argentina, rights group says

An 11-year-old assault victim was forced to have a C-section in Argentina, rights group says

By Nicole Chavez, CNN
Fri March 1, 2019

(CNN) A pregnant 11-year-old girl in Argentina was forced to have a cesarean section after she and her family had been requesting an abortion for weeks, a human rights group said.

Last month, the girl and her mother asked medics in the northern province of Tucumán for an abortion after confirming that she was pregnant, local rights group ANDHES said.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/americas/11-year-old-girl-c-section-argentina/index.html