Trial date set for pair accused of poison-induced abortion

[Editors' note: Abortion pills are life-saving, not poison]

March 20, 2024
By Chloe Harcombe, BBC News, West of England

A trial date has been set for two people accused of obtaining drugs to illegally abort a baby.

Elliott Benham, 24, of Wingfield, Swindon, and Sophie Harvey, 24, of St Mary's Road, Cirencester, are alleged to have used "poison" to cause a miscarriage, before concealing the dead infant.

The prosecution's case is that the defendants bought the drugs from India.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-68617538


Andorra: Activist on trial for raising concerns about total abortion ban at UN meeting

December 1, 2023
Amnesty International

Abortion rights activist, Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, should have never been charged with a crime or put on trial for defending human rights, said Amnesty International, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Women’s Link ahead of her defamation trial on Monday.

Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, President of Stop Violence (Stop Violències), a civil society organisation, was charged with criminal defamation after voicing concerns about Andorra’s total abortion ban at a meeting of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to examine the country’s record on women’s rights in 2019.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/12/andorra-activist-on-trial-for-raising-concerns-about-total-abortion-ban-at-un-meeting/


USA – The persecution of an abortion doctor who treated a pregnant child was a shameful political farce

Robin Abcarian
Sun, June 4, 2023

The first physician to publicly fall victim to the antiabortion madness that has followed the overturning of Roe vs. Wade was vindicated last month when Indiana medical officials ruled that she did not fail to report child abuse and was not unfit to practice medicine after providing abortion care to a 10-year-old and telling a reporter about it.

Ludicrously, though, the state medical board fined Dr. Caitlin Bernard $3,000 for violating her unnamed patient’s privacy rights. The board members' ruling, as it’s been reported, didn’t make clear exactly what protected information she had disclosed.

Continued: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/abcarian-persecution-abortion-doctor-treated-100044070.html


USA – Violence against abortion clinics hit a record high last year. Doctors say it’s getting worse.

Violence against abortion clinics hit a record high last year. Doctors say it's getting worse.

By Kate Smith
Updated on: September 17, 2019

For one of the last abortion doctors in Missouri, harassment, stalking and death threats are a part of regular life. But this year, it's been worse than ever.

Colleen McNicholas, the chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, is one of many providers who told CBS News they've seen an uptick in violence this year, both against themselves and their clinics. They say the increased harassment has coincided with newly enacted state laws restricting legal abortion and polarizing rhetoric surrounding the procedure.

Continued: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/violence-against-abortion-clinics-like-planned-parenthood-hit-a-record-high-last-year-doctors-say-its-getting-worse/


Turkey slammed after launching terror investigations into those who have had abortions

Turkey slammed after launching terror investigations into those who have had abortions

Steve Sweeney
Tuesday, September 10, 2019

HEALTH professionals in Turkey have hit out after security services demanded lists of the names of all women who had abortions in Istanbul between January 2017 and May 2019 as part of “terror investigations.”

Istanbul’s Provincial Directorate of Security demanded the confidential information by September 13 in a letter sent to every public and private hospital across the city.

Continued: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/turkey-slammed-after-launching-terror-investigations-those-who-have-had-abortions#.XX-jh9EZkG1.facebook


Argentina Is Persecuting Abortion Rights Activists

Argentina Is Persecuting Abortion Rights Activists

Published 16 August 2018

Three police raids took place Wednesday in the small city of Rio Grande, in Argentina, against feminist activists.

The justice system of the city of Rio Grande, in the southernmost province of Tierra del Fuego, ordered the provincial police to raid the homes of feminist activists in search of evidence related to their activism for the legalization of abortion.

“It was intimidating. Members of the forensic police entered my house, read the search warrant and started going through everything. They made me go to the bathroom with a policewoman to search me, they removed my shoes and my parents’ shoes, and they took my computer, my cell phone, and my green bandanas. They also wanted to take the book that explained how to abort using pills,” Gala, a member of Colectiva Feminista (or Feminist Collective) explained.

Continued: https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Argentina-Is-Persecuting-Abortion-Rights-Activists-20180816-0006.html


POLAND – Polish abortion rights advocates reported to the police, but no charges were brought (yet)

POLAND – Polish abortion rights advocates reported to the police, but no charges were brought (yet)

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
June 8, 2018

Dear Abortion Friends,

Some time ago we, the Abortion Dream Team (an informal group working on destigmatisation of abortion) and Kobiety w Sieci (community of women with abortion experience who run the online forum and support each other), found out that two anti-choice organizations had filed reports with the police accusing us of committing two kinds of crimes and asking them to press charges against us for our activities.

One supposed crime they accused us of was the Abortion Dream Team’s post on Facebook, which gives information on how to prepare oneself for a home abortion. We have not yet heard from the law enforcement authorities about that, but we do expect something to happen.

The second one was about the online forum and “illegal helping” of women to have an abortion that is punishable under Polish law. As a result of that, one of us, Justyna Wydrzynska, who is the online forum’s administrator, was called in for an interview on 7 June. At the end of the interview, no charges were brought against her, and we are under the impression that none will be. But it is probably not the end, as there can be more attempts.

We know that this is a backlash. The forum has been operating for 12 years. For a long time, it was done quietly. Thousands of women got support they needed. Recently, it became more visible. Women with abortion experience who also support others started talking about it openly and proudly. The anti-choice people could not stand it.

We won’t ever agree that giving information and advice on abortion access – how and where to order pills, how to take them, what to do to make abortion more comfortable and safe – and having support during this experience is a crime of “illegally helping” someone to have an abortion. We will never agree to such an interpretation. And we won’t stop doing what we do even if they call us criminals and press charges against us. We are doing good for women, and we will be there for each other always.

We receive a lot of support and solidarity from our allies in Poland. Today one friend initiated a Facebook action where people write: “I also give information about abortion. You won’t hear about all of us. You can’t lock all of us up. Today, we have all had the experience of abortion; today, we all are abortion supporters”. We are using the hashtag #jatezmowieoaborcji in Polish. In English it is: #IAlsoInformAboutAbortion.

If you would like to do the same, to declare that you are also people who tell others about abortion possibilities, that you also help others to go through abortion in safety and comfort, you can also use this hashtag. You can report what we have written here and also whatever you want. It would be great if you could use one of the hashtags: #jatezmowieoaborcji in Polish; #IAlsoInformAboutAbortion in English.

We would truly appreciate it. Solidarity is our greatest strength.

Karolina, Natalia, Justyna

SOURCE: E-mail, 7 June 2018
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From: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/poland-polish-abortion-rights-advocates-reported-to-the-police-but-no-charges-were-brought-yet/


Spain: Magistrate’s court dismisses anti-abortion case due to lack of evidence

by Safe Abortion, Nov 11, 2016

La Asociación de Abogados Cristianos (Christian Lawyers Association), an anti-abortion group, failed to provide evidence in court to support its accusations against four abortion clinics in Madrid in September this year. The group accused the clinics of having thrown away health information about their patients that could have violated confidentiality, of breaching the rules of disposal of biomedical waste, and of fiscal offences. The Magistrate’s Court ruled that they had provided no solid evidence to justfy proceeding with a case.

Jose Antonio Bosch, who represented the Association of Abortion Clinics (ACAI), argued that this group were abusing the criminal justice system just to get headlines in the press. He accused Juan Francisco Sánchez Galera, of being an “anti-abortion jihadi, rooting around the clinics’ rubbish bins” for something that didn’t exist. This person had filed the initial accusations with the police, which Bosch described as based on “some business cards” which he had allegedly found in the trash. Then the Christian Lawyers took up the case.

An example of the so-called evidence submitted was a slip of paper on which a clinic doctor, who is Muslim, had written some verses from the Koran for personal reasons. How this slip of paper had ended up in court was a mystery to him, as he said he would never have thrown it away, given its contents.

Another claim, that a clinic was violating regulations on biomedical waste management and endangering public health and the environment was also dismissed. The clinics all contract a bona fide company to remove biological waste, which the court accepted.

These accusations and complaints against the clinics are made regularly, made worse by the majority Government party’s support. Harassment of any woman entering a clinic is also a regular occurrence.

SOURCE: Público, by Jennifer Tejada Dewar, 12 September 2016

Source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion