The US Supreme Court took away abortion rights. Mexico’s high court just did the opposite.

Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY
Sept 9, 2023

A ruling this week by Mexico’s Supreme Court to decriminalize abortion continues a broadening push in recent years to expand abortion access in Latin America, placing the region more in line with global reproductive-rights trends than the United States, where Roe v. Wade was struck down last year.

Counter-intuitively, the Mexican court's decision toward opening up abortion access comes in a country with lower support for abortion rights than in the United States, where abortion access has been widely restricted in recent months.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/09/09/mexicos-highest-court-opened-up-abortion-rights/70797288007/

Australia – ‘I was shocked’: Catholic-run public hospitals refuse to provide birth control and abortion

Publicly funded Catholic hospitals across Australia are using the cover of religion to opt out of providing reproductive care – and experts say it has created a ‘postcode lottery’ for access to services

by Donna Lu and Melissa Davey
Mon 21 Aug 2023

When Sarah*, a Melbourne mother, was pregnant with her second child, her GP gave her a surprising warning: if she had any serious complications, concerns about the viability of the pregnancy or believed she might be miscarrying, she should go to the Royal Women’s hospital rather than the Mercy Hospital for Women, where she was planning to deliver the baby.

The reason, the GP told her, was that the Mercy – a public hospital in Melbourne’s north-east – would not assist in terminating a pregnancy due to its Catholic affiliation.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/22/do-australian-catholic-hospitals-perform-abortions-provide-contraception-reproductive-care

The Pain and Promise of Europe’s Abortion Laws

The continent’s abortion laws are a patchwork of progress and setbacks. And for many, accessing the right care at the right time is still a lottery.

BY GRACE BROWNE
JUN 22, 2023

ON MAY 26, 2018, Irish women spilled onto the streets to celebrate a historic win for reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. The staunchly Catholic country had overwhelmingly voted to scrap the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution, under which abortion was essentially illegal—one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.

Five years on, the mood has sobered. Under the new laws, those seeking an abortion have to undergo a mandatory waiting period, adhere to strict time limits, and contend with a lack of providers. From 2019 to 2021, 775 people made use of their right to travel freely between the United Kingdom and Ireland to head to Britain to access abortion services. In 2020, despite the pandemic, nearly 200 people still traveled across the Irish Sea to get abortion care in the UK. The Abortion Support Network (ASN), a charity that helps people in Europe access abortion through telemedicine or by supporting travel, says every three days they hear from someone in Ireland looking for help.

Continued: https://www.wired.com/story/europe-abortion-laws/

Spain’s new abortion law has difficult realities to address

How regional inequality, poor planning and conscientious objections have affected abortion rights in Castilla y León

Elena Ledda
9 June 2023

When Blanca* decided she wanted an abortion, she was told she'd have to travel almost three hours to find Spain’s nearest health centre with free provision. Out of desperation she ended up paying 400 euros at a private clinic, where she was offered only a local anaesthetic.

Her experience is just one example of the grim reality for women and pregnant people that a progressive new law is hoping to address.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/spain-abortion-castilla-y-leon-conscientous-objection/

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

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abortion refusals

belief-based care denial

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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

A recent reform was meant to guarantee free abortion in all of Spain. Is it working?

By Natalie Donback
27/05/2023

Many Spanish women have had to go to private clinics to abort and pay upwards of hundreds of euros to do so. Spain recently passed a reform to improve the unequal access to abortion but enforcement has been poor in some autonomous communities and regional elections that could see a far-right party advance have stoked fears the new law could be all but shelved in some areas.

The reform which aims to improve access to abortion by making it mandatory for each of the country’s 17 autonomous communities to offer the procedure in public hospitals, including those with conservative and right-wing local governments, came into force in March.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/05/27/a-recent-reform-is-meant-to-guarantee-free-abortion-in-all-of-spain-has-it

Five years after Ireland’s historic abortion referendum, access to care is still ‘patchy’

By Niamh Kennedy and Emily Blumenthal, CNN
Thu May 25, 2023

In 2018, the Irish public voted overwhelmingly to repeal the country’s Eighth Amendment, overturning one of the strictest abortion bans in the European Union. There were scenes of jubilation as the referendum result was announced, with many in Ireland seeing it as a historic step that would give women control over their own bodies.

But five years on, although abortion is free and legally available in Ireland up to 12 weeks of pregnancy – after that allowed only in exceptional circumstances, if there is a risk to the mother’s life or the fetus is not expected to survive – the abortion system is still far from where campaigners and charities would like it to be.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/25/europe/ireland-abortion-referendum-5-years-intl-cmd/index.html

Kenya – Doctors take stand on abortion rights for the survivors of rape

By Gardy Chacha
May 23, 2023

It is important that victims of rape and defilement – who consequently fall pregnant – are accorded medical abortion care by medical practitioners, when and if they make such a request.

This is the position of the Kenya Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society (Kogs) – an organisation of about 500 Kenyan doctors specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Continued: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/health/reproductive-health/article/2001473463/doctors-take-stand-on-abortion-rights-for-the-survivors-of-rape

23.05.2023

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Anne Kihara

conscientious objection

International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Kenya Obstetrics and Gynecology Society

Standard Guidelines on Post-Abortion Care

‘Clear’ difference in abortion access across Ireland – Malone

Saturday, 29 Apr 2023

It is "clear" there are differences in access to abortion services across Ireland, according to the former Master of the Rotunda Hospital.

Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Professor Fergal Malone said some parts of the country are well served, while in other parts, it is "challenging" as he described "conscientious objection" as one of the factors.

Continued: https://www.rte.ie/news/health/2023/0429/1379888-abortion-review/

29.04.2023

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