Nigeria – Need for access to sexual, reproductive healthcare services for women, girls

September 20, 2021
By Nnamdi Eseme, The Nation

Sexual and reproductive healthcare worldwide is rapidly evolving with progress being made on adolescent sexual and reproductive health however, Nigeria’s healthcare sector is still running behind to meet up. In this letter, we discuss some areas where Nigeria is lagging and hopes it serves as a call to action to improve sexual and reproductive healthcare especially of young people, women and girls in the country.

Nigeria in recent times has seen her population growing massively with world experts predicting that by 2050, the country will become one of the most populous in the world. This is despite the many challenges she grapples with including poor health, unemployment, insecurity, poverty, among others. Accessing quality healthcare is a major problem in the country and for many women and girls, healthcare includes abortion services.

Continued: https://thenationonlineng.net/need-for-access-to-sexual-reproductive-healthcare-services-for-women-girls/

Lesotho: Unsafe Abortion – a Growing Concern in Lesotho

8 DECEMBER 2020
By Majara Molupe

Maseru — There is increasing concern in Lesotho over increasing numbers of unsafe abortion. This unsafe abortion is carried out by individuals who do not have expertise to dabble in such practice.

Abortion in Lesotho is criminalised and any person who willingly causes or induces the termination of a pregnancy commits can face imprisonment of up to three years. Criminalising abortion means healthcare providers are unable to provide much needed health care for women.

Continued: https://allafrica.com/stories/202012080817.html

Australia – Three better ways to ‘champion babies’ than protesting abortion

Three better ways to 'champion babies' than protesting abortion

By Clementine Ford
24 October 2018

Last week, the Queensland government finally dragged itself into the modern era when it voted to make access to abortion officially legal.

I say "modern era", but of course there are still legislatures all over the country (and the world) that are languishing in a state of regressive, misogynist policies that deny women and others with reproductive capacity the right to determine when, if and under what circumstances they become parents. New South Wales is one of them. Curiously, South Australia is another – for despite abortion being relatively easy to access in that state (and I should know, I had two there), it’s technically still listed on the criminal code.

Continued: https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/three-better-ways-to-champion-babies-than-protesting-abortion-20181023-p50bhc.html

Abortion in Australia: what are the laws in each state?

Abortion in Australia: what are the laws in each state?
As abortion law reform is discussed in Argentina and Ireland voted earlier this year to liberalise some of the world's most restrictive laws, SBS News takes a look at the state of play closer to home.

Aug 8, 2018
By Kelsey Munro

Australia’s abortion laws are complicated, with different rules governing women’s access to the procedure in each state and territory.

Recent research in NSW showed 73 percent of people supported a woman’s right to a legal abortion, and 76 percent of respondents were surprised to learn that abortion remained criminalised in NSW.

It also does in Queensland and South Australia, with exceptions.

Continued: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/abortion-in-australia-what-are-the-laws-in-each-state

Ireland – TDs and Senators call on Argentina to legalise abortion

TDs and Senators call on Argentina to legalise abortion
Argentine senate to vote on August 8th on abortion decriminalisation

Fri, Aug 3, 2018
Sorcha Pollak

More than sixty TDs and Senators have signed a letter calling on the Argentinian senate to legalise abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

The letter, which was was organised by Amnesty International, will be sent to Argentina’s senate ahead of a vote on August 8th to decide whether a bill legalising abortion for the first 14 weeks becomes law. The bill narrowly passed the lower house of Argentina’s congress in June.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/tds-and-senators-call-on-argentina-to-legalise-abortion-1.3585414

03.08.2018

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Criminalised abortion in UK obstructs reflective choice and best care

Criminalised abortion in UK obstructs reflective choice and best care

BMJ 2018; 362 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k2928
Published 09 July 2018
Sandy Goldbeck-Wood, Abigail Aiken, David Horwell, Oskari Heikinheimo, Ganesh Acharya, editorial board of BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health

Theresa May could seize this opportunity for evidence based reform

The recent decisions to liberalise abortion laws in the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man1 have put pressure on the British prime minister, Theresa May, to consider decriminalising abortion in the UK. Although she believes “that a woman should be able to access safe, legal abortion,”2 she has not yet acted to initiate amendment of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act—perhaps in fear of Northern Ireland's anti-abortion Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), on which her minority government depends.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k2928