Brazil’s Supreme Court to vote on decriminalising abortion

Sept 22, 2023

By Katy Watson, BBC News, South America

Brazil's Supreme Court has started voting on whether to decriminalise abortion. However, the session was quickly postponed after a minister called for the vote to take place in person instead of via video - and no new date has yet been set.

Currently, abortion is only allowed in three cases: that of rape, risk to the woman's life and anencephaly - when the foetus has an undeveloped brain. If the Supreme Court votes in favour, abortion will be decriminalised up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-66881900

Abortion now on the table of Finnish government talks

By Pekka Vanttinen | EURACTIV.com
Jun 1, 2023

The Christian Democrats are pushing for the right of healthcare workers to refuse to carry out abortions amid the now five-week-long government talks, Hufvudstadsbladet reported on Thursday.

The Christian Democrats, currently in government talks with the National Coalition Party, the Finns Party and the Swedish People’s Party, would like to see the right to be included in the programme, reported HBL. The Christian Democrats refused to deny or confirm the news.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/abortion-now-on-the-table-of-finnish-government-talks/

01.06.2023

News

abortion refusals

belief-based care denial

care denial

conscientious objection

USA – The Weldon Amendment: A Poison Pill Rider for Abortion Access

National Women’s Law Center
May 30, 2023

A health care provider’s personal beliefs should never dictate health care. Yet a federal law known as the Weldon Amendment allows personal beliefs, not patient health and the standard of care, to determine the care a patient receives.

The Weldon Amendment is a rider that has been attached to the annual Labor-HHS appropriations bill in Congress since 2005. Although it is written to prohibit any entity subject to the rider from “discriminat[ing]” against certain health care entities – including hospitals, health insurance plans, doctors, and nurses – that refuse to provide, cover, pay for, or refer for abortion, it really allows health care providers to discriminate against patients by denying them the care they need. There are no provisions in the Weldon Amendment to protect patient access to abortion services.

Continued: https://nwlc.org/resource/the-weldon-amendment-a-poison-pill-rider-for-abortion-access/

30.05.2023

Commentary

abortion refusals

Affordable Care Act

belief-based care denial

care denials

conscientious objection

Title X family planning program

Outcry in Poland over abortion law

Two Polish hospitals refused to terminate the pregnancy of an underage rape victim. The case has sparked controversy over the country's restrictive legislation, with women's rights activists insisting it must be eased.

Jacek Lepiarz
February 5, 2023

A scandal is raging in Polish politics and in the media, concering the shocking case of a 14-year-old rape victim. The girl, who is from the Podlaskie region in northeastern Poland and has mental disabilities, was raped by her own uncle and became pregnant as a result. She was unaware of her condition, but her aunt noticed it and tried to help her get an abortion.

Although the girl had written confirmation from the public prosecutor that she was pregnant as the result of a crime, which gave her the right to a legal abortion, two hospitals in the region refused to carry out the procedure. The province of Podlaskie on the Belarusian border is a bastion of the right-wing conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS), which has been in power in Poland since 2015.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/poland-outcry-over-abortion-law/a-64586531

Many Hospitals Refuse To Provide Reproductive Care, Even In States Where Abortion Remains Legal

Emily Stewart
NOVEMBER 16, 2022

Voter approval of ballot measures protecting abortion rights in three states on Election Day was an important first step toward addressing the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Since that ruling, at least 13 states have implemented restrictions rendering access to abortion almost nonexistent. Still more states have applied extreme limits. People seeking abortion care are being forced to travel to other states, or figure out how to obtain medication abortion through the mail (which may not be their preference). Health providers are struggling to determine what pregnancy emergency care they can provide without violating newly-enacted abortion bans. Too many are unable to overcome these hurdles to get the care they need.

Continued: https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/many-hospitals-refuse-provide-reproductive-care-even-states-abortion-remains-legal

Poland’s year of fear – who will die next in abortion crackdown?

By URSZULA GRYCUK
WARSAW, January 26, 2022

Every day, the calls and emails flood in with desperate requests for help.

Since the
Constitutional Tribunal decision leading to a law all but eliminating legal
abortion in Poland – which came into force one year ago – the number of women
and girls contacting the Federation for Women and Family Planning (Federa) has
increased threefold.

Continued: https://euobserver.com/opinion/154191

Difficulties linger in accessing legal abortion in Slovakia

By Lucia Yar | EURACTIV.sk
Oct 10, 2021

As many as a third of all hospitals and
medical facilities surveyed refuse to provide legal abortions on the grounds of
conscientious objection, according to a study by the feminist organisation
Possibility of Choice.

Due to conscientious objection, individuals can refuse to perform certain
medical procedures based on their religious or personal beliefs. However, no
legal norm states that entire medical facilities can exercise conscientious
objection. In addition to hospitals, pharmacies often refer to it when refusing
to sell hormonal contraception to women.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/difficulties-linger-in-accessing-legal-abortion-in-slovakia/

10.10.2021

conscientious objection

harms of abortion refusal

Possibility of Choice

treatment refusals

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Abortion Is No Longer a Crime in Mexico. But Will Doctors Object?

Another battle looms over whether public hospitals will be required to offer the procedure.

By Natalie Kitroeff and Oscar Lopez
Sept. 13, 2021

MEXICO CITY — As soon as the nurse found out that she had an abortion at home, Fernanda García knew she was in danger. The nurse began yelling that she was a criminal, that what she had done was wrong, that she would be sent to jail.

“She told me that they were going to report me, that I was going to face charges,” said Ms. García, who went to the hospital last month after experiencing pain and bleeding. “I’ve never felt so scared in my life.”

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/world/americas/mexico-abortion-objectors.html

Argentina must legalize abortion so doctors like me don’t have to choose between helping or going to prison

Opinion by Cecilia Ousset
Dec. 28, 2020

I am a Catholic doctor, mother of four and a
conscientious objector to abortion who has been trying to reconcile her
religious views with public health needs. Because the reality that I see every
day is that all women have abortions. The married woman and the single one, the
Catholic, the Jewish, the atheist. Women who do not use birth control and those
whose birth control has failed them. Illiterate women and those with college
degrees.

The difference, however, is in the conditions under which they have abortions.
That’s always defined by their economic status.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/28/argentina-legal-abortion-senate-vote/

In Italy, religious organizations’ ‘fetus graves’ reignite abortion debate

Catholic and conservative groups are slowly chipping away at abortion rights in Italy, where abortion has been legal since 1978.

November 11, 2020
By Lucía Benavides

A recently discovered cemetery of aborted fetuses where the names of the women who had had abortions appeared on crosses has sparked outrage across Italy.

Retired gynecologist Silvana Agatone says the cemetery discovery renewed a conversation about growing anti-abortion sentiments in Italy, despite the practice being legal since 1978. Although every public hospital is required to provide abortions, she says only about 64% of them do.

Continued: https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-11-11/italy-religious-organizations-fetus-graves-reignite-abortion-debate