Andorra: Acquittal of activist who raised concerns about total abortion ban at a UN meeting “an important victory”

Amnesty International
Jan 17, 2024

The acquittal of abortion rights activist, Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, on defamation charges is an important victory but she should never have been charged in the first place, said Amnesty International following a court decision today.

In a joint public statement with the Centre for Reproductive Rights, Women’s Link Worldwide and Front Line Defenders the organisations welcome today’s decision acquitting Vanessa Mendoza Cortés and remind the authorities that she should face no further intimidation or reprisals for carrying out her important and legitimate human rights work.

Continued:https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/01/andorra-acquittal-of-activist-who-raised-concerns-about-total-abortion-ban-at-a-un-meeting-an-important-victory/

Refugees return to Ukraine due to reproductive, sexual challenges

By Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl
May 16, 2023

Ukrainian refugees are temporarily returning home to receive sexual and reproductive healthcare after finding their options limited in Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, while others seek illegal solutions, according to a study published by the Centre for Reproductive Rights.

A study published on Tuesday, the work of nine international human rights organisations documents the alarming impact that restrictive national laws have on refugees seeking essential care and support.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/refugees-return-to-ukraine-due-to-reproductive-sexual-challenges/

Nepal – Decrminalise abortion: Rights activists

By Ram Kumar Kamat
Mar 18, 2023

Kathmandu – Article 38(2) of the constitution ensures the right of every woman to safe motherhood and reproductive health thereby acknowledging the right to safe abortion as part of reproductive health right, but in practice, women have not been able to enjoy this right, due to criminalisation of abortion and a number of restrictive measures.

Executive Director of Forum for Women, Law and Development Sabin Shrestha said Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act, which was brought to enable women to enjoy their reproductive health rights, conversely prohibited abortion after 28 weeks of pregnancy.

Continued: https://thehimalayantimes.com/sports/decrminalise-abortion-rights-activists

18.03.2023

News

Centre for Reproductive Rights

decriminalisation of abortion

Prabhakar Shrestha

Sabin Shrestha

Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act

Kenya – Don’t sweep abortion talk under the rug

By Mark Oloo
Nov 19, 2022

There are two undisputed taboo topics in Kenya – gay rights and abortion. We call them ‘non-issues’ and ‘alien’ subjects.

Society bears a natural love for lethal cartels and high priests of corruption but openly detests the gay community and survivors of abortion. At any rate, the abortion talk will raise sneaky questions about contraception and the age of consent. Then there’s the moral and religious ping-pong around it.

Continued: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001461065/dont-sweep-abortion-talk-under-the-rug

19.11.2022

Featured

Opinion

Centre for Reproductive Rights

Enid Muthoni

Kenya Obstetrical Gynaecological Society

How Overruling Roe is Already Risking Women’s Lives

Sian Norris
25 August 2022

It’s two months since the US Supreme Court ended the nationwide right to abortion, and the horror stories are already piling up. Worse is yet to come, reports Sian Norris

It’s now two months since the US Supreme Court decided on Dobbs v Jackson’s Women’s Health Organisation – a case on abortion rights that ultimately overruled Roe v Wade, the 1973 decision that allowed for nationwide access to safe and legal terminations. The Dobbs decision was written by the conservative Justice Samuel Alito, and allows for abortion laws to be made at a state, rather than federal level.

Within the first two months, nine states have implemented bans on abortion – some, like Missouri, within 24 hours. It, along with Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota have outlawed abortion in all cases, including when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.

Continued: https://bylinetimes.com/2022/08/25/how-overruling-roe-is-already-risking-womens-lives/

25.08.2022

Commentary

Featured

Centre for Reproductive Rights

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

African Abortion Rights Now at Risk After US Supreme Court Decision

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
27 June 2022

NEW YORK (IDN) — In Africa, where the risk of dying from an unsafe abortion is the highest in the world, Roe v Wade has long been an important weapon in the arsenal of those fighting to liberalize abortion laws and make the procedure safer for women and girls despite it rarely being invoked by name.

Human rights lawyer Stephanie Musho, a Kenyan, pointed to the case of Tunisia which liberalized their law limiting abortions just nine months after the Roe v Wade ruling—allowing women to access the service on demand.

Continued: https://www.indepthnews.net/index.php/sustainability/gender-equality/5411-african-abortion-rights-now-at-risk-after-us-supreme-court-decision

27.06.2022

Featured

News

Centre for Reproductive Rights

Nepal – ‘Govt not serious about decriminalising abortion’

By Ram Kumar Kamat
Apr 03, 2022

KATHMANDU, APRIL 2 - Even one year after Nepal accepted the Human Rights Council's universal periodic review recommendation that it should decriminalise abortion, the government has not taken any concrete steps to amend the prevailing laws that criminalise abortion.

In 2018, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women Committee had also recommended that Nepal fully decriminalise abortion in all cases and legalise it at least in the cases of health complications of the mother.

Continued: https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/govt-not-serious-about-decriminalising-abortion

Kenya On Course In Post-Abortion Care Guidelines, To Deliver Life-Saving Care

By MUTHONI WAWERU
March 22, 2022

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 22 – Acting Director-General for Health Dr. Patrick Amoth says adequate measures on Post-Abortion Care (PAC) guidelines as well as capacity building in all counties, to be able to bring health care workers to speed on the quality of abortion care.

Abortion in Kenya is illegal but is permitted under specified circumstances, including danger to the life and health of the expectant mother and rape.

Continued: https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2022/03/kenya-on-course-in-post-abortion-care-guidelines-to-deliver-life-saving-care/

Kenya – Provide unrestricted reproductive healthcare including safe, legal abortion

BY ALVIN MWANGI
March 21, 2022

Women’s
access to reproductive health has been restricted by laws, cultural and religious
beliefs, communal stigma, and victimization that limits women’s enjoyment of
their reproductive healthcare including human rights.

Adolescent girls and young women have been subjects to a number of social and
health issues that do affect their lives and unfortunately disrupt their social
well-being and interaction.

Continued: https://www.kbc.co.ke/provide-unrestricted-reproductive-healthcare-including-safe-legal-abortion/

21.03.2022

Featured

Opinion

Alvin Mwangi

Centre for Reproductive Rights

Women and girls escaping Ukraine and trapped there ‘must be provided’ with abortions and contraception

‘It is imperative that European governments ensure that their humanitarian assistance prioritises the sexual and reproductive health and human rights of women and girls,’ says campaigner

Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent
Friday 18 March 2022

Abortions and contraception must be provided to women escaping Ukraine and their reproductive health must be safeguarded, campaigners on the ground have warned.

More than 60 organisations, including Amnesty International and local groups in the region, voiced “grave concern” over the situation unfolding for women in Ukraine but also displaced women forced to flee to Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Moldova, and Romania.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-abortions-contraception-b2039245.html?r=78159