How Dominican women fight child marriage and teen pregnancy while facing total abortion bans

BY MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ
January 2, 2024

AZUA, Dominican Republic (AP) — It was a busy Saturday morning at Marcia González’s church. A bishop was visiting, and normally she would have been there helping with logistics, but on this day she was teaching sex education at a local school.

“I coordinate activities at the church and my husband is a deacon,” González said. “The bishop comes once a year and children are being confirmed, but I am here because this is important for my community.”

For 40 years, González and her husband have pushed for broader sex education in the Dominican Republic, one of four Latin American nations that criminalizes abortion without exceptions. Women face up to 2 years in prison for having an abortion; penalties for doctors or midwives range from 5 to 20 years.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/dominican-republic-abortion-child-marriage-teen-pregnancy-45a2dd71fc006c413ae1386f601e912d

India – Child marriage crackdown in Assam: Pregnant teens avoid hospital, resort to abortion fearing arrests

FEB 12 2023

With the Assam government coming down strong on child marriages and arresting over 2,700 people as of Friday for violations in this regard, fear and apprehension have gripped the pregnant teenagers in the state.

With their husbands and fathers either absconding or arrested, expecting mothers in their teens, overcome by fear, are backing away from receiving proper medical attention. Few of the pregnant teenagers have even gone incommunicado with the ASHA workers in their villages fearing action.

Continued: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/east-and-northeast/child-marriage-crackdown-in-assam-pregnant-teens-avoid-hospital-resort-to-abortion-fearing-arrests-1190489.html

12.02.2023

India – Child Marriages, Unplanned Pregnancies And Unsafe Abortions Still High In Rajasthan, Warns Expert

Nearly 15 of every 1,000 adolescent girls in Rajasthan aged undergo induced abortions annually, 60% of these abortions are 'unsafe', reveals an NGO.

Longjam Dineshwori
November 3, 2021

Women with unwanted pregnancies often resort to unsafe abortion when they do not have access to safe abortion. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 50% of all abortions worldwide are unsafe, and almost all of these unsafe abortions take place in developing countries. Unsafe abortions are a critical reproductive-health issue in the Indian state of Rajasthan, said Divya Santhanam, Senior State Program Manager, Population Foundation of India.

Based on data from a recent study, the NGO noted that 35% of women aged 20-24 years in Rajasthan reported getting married before 18 years of age, which is quite high compared to the national average of 26%. Nearly 15 of every 1,000 girls in Rajasthan in the age group 15-19 years undergo induced abortions annually. Only 40 percent of these abortions occur with assistance from healthcare providers, indicating that the rest 60 percent of the abortions in the age group are 'unsafe' and without any trained assistance, the NGO highlighted in a press release.

Continued: https://www.thehealthsite.com/pregnancy/child-marriages-unplanned-pregnancies-and-unsafe-abortions-still-high-in-rajasthan-warns-expert-845765/

India – New abortion rules recognise minors as vulnerable, seek to make services more accessible to them

Jagriti Chandra, NEW DELHI
OCTOBER 30, 2021

The new abortion rules notified by the Government recently recognise minors as a vulnerable category and seek to make services more accessible to them. But social stigma and conflict with POCSO Act, 2012, or the law against child sexual abuse, pose hurdles.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Rules, 2021, define new categories of vulnerable women who are allowed termination up to 24 weeks upon meeting certain conditions and with the permission of two doctors. These include minors, survivors of sexual assault and those with foetal malformation among others. Others may seek abortion up to 20 weeks with the permission of one doctor upon meeting certain criteria…

Continued: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/new-abortion-rules-recognise-minors-as-vulnerable-seek-to-make-services-more-accessible-to-them/article37253176.ece

Bangladesh – Ensuring Choices and Rights

The Daily Star in association with Team Associates and Marie Stopes Bangladesh organised an online discussion titled “World Population Day: Ensuring Choices and Rights” on July 8, 2021. Here we publish a summary of the discussion.

Wed Jul 28, 2021
Monjun Nahar, Lead, Advocacy and Communication, Marie Stopes Bangladesh

This year, the World Population Day focuses on comprehensive rights and choices on sexual and reproductive health. The theme itself refers to the global consensus that reproductive health rights are integral and indivisible parts of human rights. Particularly for women reproductive rights are deeply connected with their life and livelihood. The ability to take decisions about their sexual and reproductive health is a key indicator that women are in control of their own lives.

However, we are talking about rights and choices in a context where women have very little independence to take decision by herself. A woman's education, marriage, profession are mostly dependent on her family members.

Continued: https://www.thedailystar.net/round-tables/news/ensuring-choices-and-rights-2138396

SENEGAL – Laws on abortion and other girls’ and women’s rights to be amended

SENEGAL – Laws on abortion and other girls’ and women’s rights to be amended

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Sept 10, 2019

Laws related to abortion and other rights of girls and women are soon be amended in Senegal. On 26 July, during a dinner discussion organised by the Association de Juristes de Senegal (AJS), the government director of human rights, Moussa Ka, explained that the State had made a commitment to establish a technical committee to review the legislative and regulatory provisions that discriminate against women with the aim of modifying them. This, he said, included prohibition of FGM, child marriage and sexual harassment. It would also authorise safe abortion for girls, in cases of rape and incest under the Children’s Code. He invited civil society organisations to strengthen the synergy of actions in order to advocate for the adoption of current reform projects.

Continued: https://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/senegal-laws-on-abortion-and-other-girls-and-womens-rights-to-be-amended/

10.09.2019

Association de Juristes de Senegal

child marriage

female genital mutilation

Youth Friendly Sexual & Reproductive Health Services a Must! Data shows 14 million Indian girls marry before 18 years

Youth Friendly Sexual & Reproductive Health Services a Must! Data shows 14 million Indian girls marry before 18 years

Updated: March 24, 2019
By Vandana Chavan, Member of Parliament

A 2015 UNESCO report on “Emerging Evidence, Lessons and Practice in Comprehensive Sexuality Education” (CSE) suggests that CSE has far-reaching benefits for SRH, particularly in reducing STI’s and unintended pregnancies.

India, with the second largest population in the world of 1.3 billion, is also home to the world’s largest adolescent and youth at 365 million. Over 50 per cent of the country’s population is under the age of 25. An analysis of the United Nations World Population Prospects 2017 by Bloomberg revealed that by 2027, India with its current increase in the proportion of working age people, also known as the demographic dividend, will have the largest workforce in the world.

Continued: https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/health/youth-friendly-sexual-reproductive-health-services-a-must-data-shows-14-million-indian-girls-marry-before-18-years/1525491/

Reproductive Choice is About Much More than Abortion

Reproductive Choice is About Much More than Abortion

Posted on November 27, 2018
by Valerie Tarico

When it comes to freely-chosen parenthood, we sometimes miss the big picture.

Imperfect people and imperfect birth control and imperfect pregnancy processes fail; and when they do, access to abortion is a moral good. Like health knowledge and reliable contraceptive options, the power to end an ill-conceived pregnancy helps young people to form the families of their choosing with the best timing and circumstances available to them—improving health and wellbeing for kids and families and whole communities.

Continued: https://valerietarico.com/2018/11/27/reproductive-choice-is-about-much-more-than-abortion/