Abortion rights: history offers a blueprint for how pro-choice campaigners might usefully respond

BMJ 2022; 378
doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o1846
Published 26 July 2022
Agnes Arnold Forster, research fellow

In October 1971, the New York Times reported a decline in maternal death rate.1 Just 15 months earlier, the state had liberalised its abortion law. David Harris, New York’s deputy commissioner of health, speaking to the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, attributed the decline—by more than half—to the replacement of criminal abortions with safe, legal ones. Previously, abortion had been the single leading cause of maternity related deaths, accounting for around a third. A doctor in the audience who said he was from a state “where the abortion law is still archaic,” thanked New York for its “remarkable job” and expressed his gratitude that there was a place he could send his patients and know they would receive “safe, excellent care.” Harris urged other states to follow the example set by New York and liberalise their abortion laws.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o1846

USA – State Department removes reproductive rights indicators from annual country reporting

State Department removes reproductive rights indicators from annual country reporting

By Nancy Northup, opinion contributor
04/26/18

Last Friday’s release of the U.S. Department of State’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices has a gaping hole: the “Reproductive Rights” section has disappeared. This section was previously included for each one of the 195 countries covered by this comprehensive assessment of the state of human rights around the world With his confirmation now settled, Secretary of State Pompeo should understand — and reverse — his predecessor’s dramatic about-face in U.S. efforts to protect the rights of women.

The country reports form a critical body of evidence for capturing human rights conditions. They provide narrative evidence of compliance with human rights norms — an established part of international law — incorporating rights to free press, association, religion, fair trials and conditions of confinement, as well freedom from racial, ethnic and gender-based discrimination.

Continued: http://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/385077-state-department-removes-reproductive-rights-indicators-from-annual

USA: Roe’s Unfinished Promise

ROE'S UNFINISHED PROMISE
Nov 29, 2017

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade set powerful precedent affirming that the Constitution protects the right to abortion. By striking down criminal abortion laws, Roe created the promise of a future in which anyone who decides to end a pregnancy is able to do so safely, with dignity, and free from arrest. From this case emerged a promise of greater reproductive freedom and an end to the fear and secrecy that had plagued many people’s experiences of ending pregnancies where abortion had been a crime.

Roe's Unfinished Promise: Decriminalizing Abortion Once and For All is the first comprehensive paper about the criminalization of non-clinical abortion in the U.S. and efforts to eliminate threats, while increasing protections, for people who end pregnancies outside the formal healthcare system. It includes a chart listing problematic laws state by state, maps highlighting the places where people who self-induce abortion are most at risk of an unjustified arrest, excerpts from relevant statutes, and case summaries. The report concludes with recommendations for efforts to liberate non-clinical abortion from the constraints of misunderstanding and the restraints of criminalization.

Continued at source: https://www.sialegalteam.org/roes-unfinished-promise

29.11.2017