Africa: ‘Let’s Treat Sexual and Reproductive Health Services as a Regular Part of Health Care to Remove Stigma’

11 MARCH 2022
INTERVIEW By Sethi Ncube

Johannesburg — Too many girls and women continue to die and face both the short and long-term repercussions of unsafe abortions, yet potentially life-saving information on receiving quality care for abortion-related complications, remains in short supply.

To address this gap, the UN system for Human Reproduction Research (HRP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, published new data on the issue, in the latest edition of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. The newly published papers also explore the experiences of adolescents and women in accessing support in insecure environments, reports UN News.

Continued: https://allafrica.com/stories/202203110732.html


Texas Is the Future of Abortion in America

March 6, 2022
By Mary Tuma

For half a year, Roe v. Wade — the 1973 Supreme Court decision that guarantees abortion rights for all Americans — has been effectively moot in the second largest state in the country, home to about 10 percent of the nation’s reproductive-age women.

On Sept. 1, the Supreme Court allowed Texas Senate Bill 8 to go into effect — the most restrictive abortion law to do so in the United States since Roe. There’s a good chance that Texans will not see their reproductive rights restored any time soon — because Roe itself could be overturned or gutted before the fate of S.B. 8 is resolved in the courts.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/06/opinion/abortion-texas-sb-8-roe-v-wade.html


Sri Lanka – Better family planning and counselling needed to reduce unsafe abortions: Local study

Dec 20, 2021
BY Ruwan Laknath Jayakody

Until the laws for the legalisation of abortion for more conditions are enacted in Sri Lanka, family planning services and counselling should be offered especially in pre-marital, pre-pregnancy and post-pregnancy periods in order to reduce the number of unsafe abortions.

This recommendation was made in an original article on “Abortion and its legalisation: An overview of the opinion of doctors in the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, Kalubowila” which was authored by ….

Continued: https://www.nation.lk/online/better-family-planning-and-counselling-needed-to-reduce-unsafe-abortions-local-study-155590.html


Uganda – Spike in unplanned pregnancies, abortions

World Contraception Day takes place on September 26th every year. Under its campaign, every pregnancy is wanted. But in Uganda, this vision came under attack because of the lockdown which made access to sex easy but hard or impossible to family planning services and information. The result was an explosion of unplanned pregnancies and abortions as Agnes Kyotalengerire found out.

By Agnes Kyotalengerire

6th October
2020

Monicak
Kayesu' story

When Monica Kayesu, 36, a mother of four, sought family planning
services earlier this year, she settled for an intrauterine device (IUD).  Unfortunately, the lockdown took effect at on
March 20th, the day she was to have the coil inserted. With public transport
banned, Kayesu could not get it inserted in April and conceived in May. She is
five months pregnant and cannot come to terms with the idea of having a fifth
child.

Continued: https://www.newvision.co.ug/news/1528596/spike-unplanned-pregnancies-abortions


Africa: Essential Women’s Health Services at Risk Amid Covid-19

By JOHN LAZAME TINDANBIL
Oct 4, 2020

Bolgatanga, Ghana — The COVID-19 pandemic is setting back important progress on women’s health across Africa. There are many reasons for this, including lockdown restrictions which are keeping women at home, concerns about catching the virus, and the closure of women’s health services. These problems are not simple ones, but they to be acknowledged and addressed.

In my own country, Ghana, where my organisation runs safe abortion and family planning services in the north of the country, we saw a sharp drop in the number of women accessing our services from April to August 2020, compared to the same period last year.

Continued: https://thestreetjournal.org/2020/10/africa-essential-womens-health-services-at-risk-amid-covid-19/


Nigeria – COVID-19: FG charged on Family Planning funding

By Richard P. Ngbokai, Kano
Aug 4, 2020

Women‘s Integrated Services for Health (WISH), an international women reproductive health advocacy group has called on the federal and states government to prioritise funding of family planning services for enhanced health and economic dividends.

The National Sustainability Lead, WISH, Dr Michael Olawuyi who made the call in Kano at a media briefing stressed that prioritizing family planning has the potential to optimize the country’s population age structure such that the working population is more than the dependent population which translates to increased productivity and economic growth.

Continued:  https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/covid-19-fg-charged-on-family-planning-funding.html


‘COVID-19 May Increase Unintended Pregnancies, Unsafe Abortion’

July 16, 2020
Martins Ifijeh

Speaking during a webinar organised by the Network of Reproductive Health Journalists, Nigeria recently to commemorate this year’s World Population Day, the experts said the COVID-19 lockdown prevented many women and girls from accessing family planning services.

Sharing his thoughts, the former Country Director, Ipas Nigeria, Dr. Ejike Oji, said some women who became pregnant during the lockdown and have had the number of children of their choice, would resort to unsafe abortion, adding that young girls caught up in the same scenario may end up with unsafe abortion.

Continued: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/07/16/covid-19-may-increase-unintended-pregnancies-unsafe-abortion/


Pakistan – Opposition, treasury in Sindh Assembly join hands to pass reproductive healthcare rights law

Opposition, treasury in Sindh Assembly join hands to pass reproductive healthcare rights law

Hasan Mansoor
Updated November 14, 2019

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed the Sindh Reproductive Healthcare Rights Bill aimed at promoting the reproductive healthcare rights of men and women and taking care of complications with regard to pregnancy and childbirth.

The bill was originally handed to the standing committee on health a month earlier, which returned it to the house after necessary tweaking.

Continued: https://www.dawn.com/news/1516521/opposition-treasury-in-sindh-assembly-join-hands-to-pass-reproductive-healthcare-rights-law


Abortion, LGBTI rights stir emotions on eve of Nairobi summit

Abortion, LGBTI rights stir emotions on eve of Nairobi summit

By Sara Jerving
12 November 2019

NAIROBI — In the lead up to a major global United Nations conference on reproductive and sexual health in Kenya, topics such as abortion, LGBTI rights, and contraceptives for adolescents have stirred controversy among faith communities and conservative advocacy groups. These reactions to the summit illustrate some of the challenges that health professionals face in expanding access to services for women and girls globally.

The Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, which started Tuesday, is being held 25 years after the first International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. At that Cairo summit, a landmark document was agreed upon that is credited with creating a women and girl-centered approach to family planning, focused on human rights and choice. The U.N. hasn’t convened a conference of this magnitude on sexual and reproductive health since the 1994 summit. Over 6,000 people from 165 countries are expected to attend this week.

Continued: https://www.devex.com/news/abortion-lgbti-rights-stir-emotions-on-eve-of-nairobi-summit-96018


USA – Abortion Rights in Peril — What Clinicians Need to Know

Abortion Rights in Peril — What Clinicians Need to Know

Elizabeth Nash, M.P.P.
August 8, 2019
N Engl J Med 2019; 381:497-499
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1906972

This year, 2019, has become a critical time for abortion rights, with an unprecedented surge of abortion bans sweeping across the United States. Through June 1, some 26 abortion bans have been enacted in 12 states, and many more have been introduced by state legislators.

Yet state efforts to undermine abortion rights and access have been under way since the 1973 decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton affirmed the constitutional right to abortion. During that time, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed the right to abortion while also modifying the legal framework that shapes access to care.

Continued: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1906972