Polish woman’s quest for abortion exposes conflicted society

By Alicja Ptak
OCTOBER 19, 2020

WARSAW (Reuters) - In April, in the midst of a nationwide coronavirus lockdown in Poland, Katarzyna found out that the baby she was carrying had a severe genetic disorder and would probably die before birth or shortly after.

She immediately decided to terminate the pregnancy. When she finally managed to, five weeks later and after meeting some 10 doctors, securing a fallback plan in Germany and researching home methods, she knew she would not try to get pregnant again.

Continued: https://ca.reuters.com/article/idCAKBN27429N

Abortion ‘doulas’ in Chile risk prison, saying women need their help

Abortion 'doulas' in Chile risk prison, saying women need their help
“We are doing this because the law is insufficient."

May 28, 2020
By Liam Miller

SANTIAGO, Chile — The woman anxiously removes the SIM card from the cheap cellphone and cuts the chip into pieces before sweeping the fragments into the trash. When her nerves pass, she allows herself a small sigh of relief.

Despite using a "burner" phone like those associated with drug deals in TV crime series, this woman is using it for a different purpose. A college-educated professional, she's one of several women in a group of abortion "doulas," part of a clandestine network willing to break the law and face prison to help women obtain abortions, as long as it's medically safe to do so.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/abortion-doulas-chile-risk-prison-saying-women-need-their-help-n1154506

Inside Italian public hospitals, I saw how a US-linked anti-abortion network is ‘humiliating’ women

Inside Italian public hospitals, I saw how a US-linked anti-abortion network is ‘humiliating’ women
An Italian federation of anti-abortion activists, linked to the US religious right, is “infiltrating” hospitals to stop abortions. I saw them in action. (In Italiano).

Francesca Visser
9 March 2020

At 8am on a winter Friday morning, the road to the San Pio hospital in Benevento, a small city in southern Italy, is covered by mist. The hospital’s corridors are quiet, except on the second floor, where abortion-related visits are scheduled to start.

More than forty years after abortions were legalised in Italy, they remain hard for women to access – especially in the south, where most doctors refuse to perform them. In 2017, the entire Benevento province was briefly left with no abortion provider after the only non-refuser at the San Pio hospital retired.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/inside-italian-public-hospitals-i-saw-how-a-us-linked-anti-abortion-network-is-humiliating-women/

Trump Is Gutting Health Care Protections For Transgender People And Those Who Have Had Abortions

Trump Is Gutting Health Care Protections For Transgender People And Those Who Have Had Abortions
A draft rule released Friday would undo nondiscrimination protections in health care for those who have had abortions as well as transgender people.

Dominic Holden, BuzzFeed News Reporter
Ema O'Connor, BuzzFeed News Reporter
May 24, 2019

The Trump administration on Friday unveiled its long-expected proposal to reverse health care protections for transgender people and those who’ve had abortions, issuing a draft rule that seeks to rescind nondiscrimination policies established under the Affordable Care Act.

It’s the Trump administration’s third regulatory strike against transgender people this week. One rule, finalized Tuesday, would let health care workers recuse themselves from treating transgender patients on religious grounds, and a draft rule issued Wednesday would let homeless shelters turn away transgender people.

Continued: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/dominicholden/trump-rule-transgender-abortion-healthcare-discrimination

Trump Administration Strengthens ‘Conscience Rule’ for Health Care Workers

Trump Administration Strengthens ‘Conscience Rule’ for Health Care Workers
A shift in the balance between the rights of patient and provider, with religion in the middle.

By Margot Sanger-Katz
May 2, 2019

President Trump on Thursday announced an expanded “conscience rule” to protect health care workers who oppose abortion, sterilization, assisted suicide and other medical procedures on religious or moral grounds.

The rule establishes guidelines for punishing health care institutions with the loss of federal funds if they fail to respect the rights of such workers.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/02/upshot/conscience-rule-trump-religious-exemption-health-care.html

USA – New Rule Allows Religious Workers To Refuse Abortion Services

New Rule Allows Religious Workers To Refuse Abortion Services

May 2, 2019

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Mary Ziegler, law professor at Florida State University, about a new federal rule that protects religious health care workers from performing abortion-related services.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

We want to look more closely now at what this ruling means for women who may need abortions. We're joined by Mary Ziegler. She's a law professor at Florida State University and author of the book "Beyond Abortion: Roe v. Wade And The Fight For Privacy." Welcome to the program.

MARY ZIEGLER: Thanks for having me.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2019/05/02/719737160/new-rule-allows-religious-workers-to-refuse-abortion-services

The Trump Administration Will Allow Health Workers To Refuse Abortion And Sex Reassignment Services

The Trump Administration Will Allow Health Workers To Refuse Abortion And Sex Reassignment Services
The rule will protect discrimination based on “conscience” or “religious beliefs,” but opponents argue it will greatly limit access to care.

Ema O'Connor BuzzFeed News Reporter
Dominic Holden BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on May 2, 2019

The Trump administration released a final rule Thursday that will allow health workers to refuse to perform or assist medical procedures — like abortion, assisted suicide, or sex reassignment surgery — if it violates their “conscience” or religion.

The rule, which will take effect in 60 days, applies to health care institutions receiving federal funding. It repeals an Obama-era discrimination protection rule that President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services said “proved inadequate.” The new rule specifically protects “providers, individuals, and other health care entities from having to provide, participate in, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for, services such as abortion, sterilization, or assisted suicide.”

Continued: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emaoconnor/trump-rule-religious-doctors-refuse-abortion-sex

02.05.2019

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USA – The Endless Cost Of Maligning Abortion

The Endless Cost Of Maligning Abortion

Janet Burns
Feb 28, 2019

Throughout our lives, we rely on different clues and impressions to help us determine what is right, and what is wrong. These clues may be large or small, and take many forms; in select cases, they can even appear as financial figures. For while it may be impossible to put a price on human health and happiness, the cost of neglecting them is becoming all too clear.

In the case of Americans' reproductive health, such numbers clearly show that denying women contraceptives and wanted abortions has a substantial toll on their lives and livelihoods, their children and families, and society as a whole. Evidence in favor of giving women full access to family planning is extensive and varied, with many pragmatic aspects, from the costs of Medicaid-paid births to combating environmental threats.

Continued: https://www.forbes.com/sites/janetwburns/2019/02/28/the-endless-costs-of-maligning-abortion/

Power to terminate pregnancy key to woman’s right to health

Power to terminate pregnancy key to woman's right to health

Tuesday February 19 2019
By ANN NGIGI

Kenya should focus on the well-being and safety of its women. Women’s sexual and reproductive rights need recognition and active reinforcement, and safe and legal abortion is a positive step in that direction.

Abortions are not permitted in Kenya unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is a need for emergency treatment or the life or health of the mother is in danger.

Continued: https://www.nation.co.ke/oped/opinion/Power-to-terminate-pregnancy-key-to-woman-s-right-to-health/440808-4989524-118b6f0z/index.html

19.02.2019

Centre for Reproductive Rights Kenya

maternal death

World Health Organisation

Turkey’s women face dangerous conditions to obtain legal abortion

Turkey's women face dangerous conditions to obtain legal abortion
Women seeking an abortion in Turkey face considerable danger and many hurdles. While the procedure is legal, experts say in reality there is a de facto ban, believed to be orchestrated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Date 27.01.2019
Author Burcu Karakas

"I thought I'd go to some sort of hospital. But instead, it was an apartment on the second floor of a three-story building. A man with a cigarette in hand opened the door. I entered an apartment with a living room and kitchen. The bathroom in what apparently was the parents' bedroom had been converted into an abortion room. The operating table was filthy and covered in blood."

Horror takes hold of Gul as she describes the place in Istanbul's Alibeykoy district where she went to have her pregnancy terminated. What she encountered was one of Turkey’s illegal abortion clinics, often housed in converted apartments despite the procedure being legal in Turkey.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/turkeys-women-face-dangerous-conditions-to-obtain-legal-abortion/a-47257680