criminalized abortion

I’m one of the lawyers who took the lawsuit to Colombia’s constitutional court – and decriminalised abortion

Valeria Pedraza
28 February 2022

Having waited more than 520 days for the decision of Colombia’s constitutional court, on 21 February we finally received the news we were hoping for. The court ruled that abortion, if performed within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, is no longer a criminal offence.

The court’s ruling was in response to a case brought by Causa Justa (‘righteous cause’), an umbrella movement for more than 100 groups and thousands of activists across Colombia – including Women’s Link Worldwide, where I work as a lawyer. To get this far required so much creativity, courage and collaborative effort, and none of it would have been possible without the wide mix of people in the movement.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/how-we-finally-won-the-legal-case-for-abortion-in-colombia/

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Posted on 30 January, 2020
by Suchitra Dalvie, Asia Safe Abortion Partnership

Many of us greeted the news with cautious optimism when we heard that yesterday the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister had approved the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. The Bill will be introduced in the ensuing session of the Parliament. But on reading the details of the amendments proposed one is forced to wonder if this is just fussing around over minor details while continuing to ignore the larger issues of women’s autonomy and agency?

For these amendments to truly bring about wide ranging change we must remember one crucial thing about true change—it happens only with a shift in power. Until the archaic patriarchal notions of the need to criminalize various sexual and reproductive aspects of our lives (such as Section 377 in the Indian Penal Code) are done away with, any legislation like the MTP Act which is mainly meant to protect the doctors and not the women involved, is not likely to result in genuine change.

Continued: https://asap-asia.org/blog/the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same/

How we finally won the legal case for abortion in Colombia

India – The more things change, the more they stay the same.