Nepal – Putting the brakes on COVID-19: Safeguarding the health and rights of women and girls

Published: July 11, 2020

KATHMANDU: The COVID-19 pandemic has sickened 16,649 people and left 35 dead in Nepal as of July 10. But the full toll of this catastrophe has been incalculably greater. The health system has been overwhelmed and the economy has been greatly impacted. Women and girls have been disproportionately affected, with sexual and reproductive health services being curtailed and gender-based violence on the rise.

Today, 11 July, is World Population Day, a moment to raise awareness of the sexual and reproductive health needs of people. This year, UNFPA is calling attention to the needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls amid the pandemic, and the efforts needed to secure their health and human rights.

Continued: https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/putting-the-brakes-on-covid-19-safeguarding-the-health-and-rights-of-women-and-girls/

11.07.2020

intimate partner violence

maternal deaths

maternal mortality

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Activists Keep Argentina’s Abortion Reform on the Agenda Despite Covid-19

The pandemic put anticipated legislative progress on Argentina’s abortion reform on hold, but activists are determined to keep up the momentum.

Cora Fernández Anderson
July 9, 2020

Early in 2020, it appeared that the legalization of abortion was, at last, imminent in Argentina. After a long struggle by activists, the elements of a strong movement, favorable public opinion, and sympathetic allies in power all aligned in favor of finally reforming the 1921 criminal code that allows a legal abortion only under the narrow circumstances of rape or a threat to a woman’s life and health. Following last year’s general elections, support permeated the halls of power: a multi-party coalition in Congress, the presidents of the Senate and lower house, the heads of the congressional commissions charged with discussing the bill, and even the president of the country all supported reform.

But then, in early March, Covid-19 reached Argentina. The government declared a lockdown, and everything stopped—including the prospects of abortion reform.

Continued: https://nacla.org/news/2020/07/08/argentina-abortion-reform-covid

09.07.2020

abortion law reform

Alberto Fernández

Campaign for Legal Safe and Free Abortion

conscientious objectors

Red de Profesionales de la Salud por el Derecho a Decidir

Socorristas En Red

Coronavirus Created an Obstacle Course for Safe Abortions

Coronavirus Created an Obstacle Course for Safe Abortions
But during the pandemic, a few countries liberalized their requirements, allowing at-home medical terminations.

By Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Alisha Haridasani Gupta and Monika Pronczuk
June 14, 2020

BRUSSELS — When a 19-year-old woman from southern Poland decided to end her pregnancy at 18 weeks, she knew the only way to get an abortion was to rush to a neighboring European country.

Abortion is illegal in most circumstances in Poland, and so for years, many women have traveled within Europe to seek the procedure.

But it was April, and across the continent, borders were closing fast because of the coronavirus pandemic. So she and a friend loaded up their Renault with instant noodles and candy for a 14-hour race to Utrecht, in the Netherlands. They made it just in time for her to have the procedure and return home, her friend said.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/14/world/europe/coronavirus-abortion-obstacles.html

Canada pledges P44.5 million in COVID-19 aid to Philippines

Canada pledges P44.5 million in COVID-19 aid to Philippines

(Philstar.com) - June 10, 2020

MANILA, Philippines — Canada said it is providing P44.5 million worth of assistance to support the country’s fight against the spread of coronavirus disease.

In a statement Wednesday, the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines said Ottawa will donate 120,000 pieces of N95 masks worth around P29.5 million.

Also part of Canada’s aid is the provision of around P15.2 million to “ensure the unhampered provision of sexual and reproductive health services during COVID-19.”

Continued: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/06/10/2019985/canada-pledges-p445-million-covid-19-aid-philippines

10.06.2020

Featured

News

abortion access during pandemic

Center for Reproductive Rights

Covid-19

foreign aid abortion

personal protective equipment

sexual and reproductive health

Sexual Health and Empowerment Philippines

Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights

Canada announces support to Ipas to protect access to safe abortion and contraception during COVID-19 pandemic

Canada announces support to Ipas to protect access to safe abortion and contraception during COVID-19 pandemic

Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Ipas

The global coronavirus outbreak is a major threat to the health of women and girls globally and is anticipated to disproportionately affect low-resource settings where barriers to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care already existed. Today, the government of Canada affirmed that the failure to meet women’s and girls’ urgent SRH needs, including abortion, is a denial of basic rights to health, autonomy, and gender equality.

Through rapid funding from Global Affairs Canada, Ipas will work in select countries in the global south to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 by:

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/2020/June/canada-announces-support-to-ipas-to-protect-access-to-safe-abortion-and-contraception-during-covid-19-pandemic

10.06.2020

Featured

abortion access during pandemic

Covid-19

foreign aid abortion

Global Affairs Canada

Ipas

personal protective equipment

sexual and reproductive health

Archbishop of Uganda urges women to use contraception during lockdown

Archbishop of Uganda urges women to use contraception during lockdown

By Brinkwire
April 19, 2020

Family planning group hails Stephen Kazimba Mugalu’s break with Anglican tradition, but Catholic officials brand advice immoral

The new archbishop of Uganda has become the first primate of the country’s Anglican church to embrace the use of modern contraceptives after urging women to be “very careful” to avoid getting pregnant during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Continued: https://en.brinkwire.com/canada/archbishop-of-uganda-urges-women-to-use-contraception-during-lockdown/

USA – How Anti-Abortion Activists Are Taking Advantage of the Coronavirus Crisis

How Anti-Abortion Activists Are Taking Advantage of the Coronavirus Crisis

By Robin Marty
March 24, 2020

In just two weeks the novel coronavirus managed exactly what anti-abortion activists struggled for nearly five decades to accomplish: it is the biggest threat to legal abortion in America ever imagined. The entire globe is facing completely uncharted territory in public health, and many are working to address the pandemic by implementing telemedicine and other online tools to care for everyday health needs while COVID-19 patients inundate hospitals. This could help people in need of abortions, too — if legalized, doctors could remotely prescribe medication to be taken at home that would terminate pregnancies up to 10 weeks. Yet despite having a safe and effective means of ending an early pregnancy without any need to physically see a medical professional, abortion opponents are instead using this moment to close as many abortion clinics as possible throughout the U.S. — an action that will lead to another health system crisis even if COVID-19 is contained.

Continued: https://time.com/5808471/coronavirus-abortion-access/

The FDA Could Improve Abortion Access Under Coronavirus But It Won’t

The FDA Could Improve Abortion Access Under Coronavirus But It Won't
Abortion pills have to be picked up in person at a clinic. Advocates say that has to change during the pandemic.

by Christine Grimaldi
Mar 19 2020

When Donald Trump used “two very big words” to declare a national emergency over the novel coronavirus on Friday, he bragged about giving his top health official the “ability to waive laws to enable telehealth” during the pandemic. But it appears that the president’s latitude will not apply to medication abortion care, a federal agency confirmed to VICE.

People who want to end their pregnancies will have to navigate the same restrictions as always, which will become all the more complicated in a pandemic environment.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/epg85a/fda-refuses-to-improve-abortion-pill-access-under-coronavirus

USA – Joint Statement on Abortion Access During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Joint Statement on Abortion Access During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Mar 18, 2020

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology, together with the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, the American Gynecological & Obstetrical Society, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Society for Academic Specialists in General Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Society of Family Planning, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, released the following statement:

“As hospital systems, clinics, and communities prepare to meet anticipated increases in demand for the care of people with COVID-19, strategies to mitigate spread of the virus and to maximize health care resources are evolving. Some health systems, at the guidance of the CDC, are implementing plans to cancel elective and non-urgent procedures to expand hospitals’ capacity to provide critical care.

“While most abortion care is delivered in outpatient settings, in some cases care may be delivered in hospital-based settings or surgical facilities. To the extent that hospital systems or ambulatory surgical facilities are categorizing procedures that can be delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic, abortion should not be categorized as such a procedure. Abortion is an essential component of comprehensive health care. It is also a time-sensitive service for which a delay of several weeks, or in some cases days, may increase the risks or potentially make it completely inaccessible. The consequences of being unable to obtain an abortion profoundly impact a person’s life, health, and well-being.

Continued: https://www.acog.org/news/news-releases/2020/03/joint-statement-on-abortion-access-during-the-covid-19-outbreak

Trump ban on fetal tissue research blocks coronavirus treatment effort

Trump ban on fetal tissue research blocks coronavirus treatment effort

By Amy Goldstein
March 18, 2020

A senior scientist at a government biomedical research laboratory has been thwarted in his efforts to conduct experiments on possible treatments for the new coronavirus because of the Trump administration’s restrictions on research with human fetal tissue.

The scientist, Kim Hasenkrug, an immunologist at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana, has been appealing for nearly a month to top NIH officials, arguing that the pandemic warrants an exemption to a ban imposed last year prohibiting government researchers from using tissue from abortions in their work.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/trump-ban-on-fetal-tissue-research-blocks-coronavirus-treatment-effort/2020/03/18/ddd9f754-685c-11ea-abef-020f086a3fab_story.html