Film revives memories of girl’s death as Ireland reviews abortion rules

Death of Ann Lovett while giving birth in 1984 helped sparked movement that led to 2018 vote to lift abortion ban

Rory Carroll
Tue 9 May 2023

On the morning of 31 January 1984 Ann Lovett put a pair of scissors in her school bag and left her home in Granard, a small town in County Longford, Ireland.

It was cold and wet. The 15-year-old was in her uniform but did not go to school. She went to the deserted grotto of St Mary’s church, lay down on gravel, removed her underwear and gave birth in the rain.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/09/film-ireland-abortion-rules-ann-lovett

09.05.2023

Film, Art, Books

Ann Lovett

Ciaran Creagh

Global Doctors for Choice

Abortion ban: El Salvador frees women jailed after miscarriages

The women had been jailed for terms ranging from six to 13 years under some of the region’s harshest anti-abortion laws.

24 Dec 2021
Al Jazeera

Authorities in El Salvador have freed three women who spent between six and 13 years in jail under the country’s harsh anti-abortion laws after suffering miscarriages, a rights group has reported.

The women had lost their fetuses due to “health emergencies” during pregnancy, said the ACDATEE abortion rights group.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/24/abortion-ban-el-salvador-frees-women-jailed-after-miscarriages

How ‘conscientious objectors’ threaten women’s newly-won abortion rights in Latin America

How ‘conscientious objectors’ threaten women’s newly-won abortion rights in Latin America
From Uruguay to Chile, medical staff are refusing to provide abortion services even after their legalisation.

Diana Cariboni
18 July 2018

Women’s rights to legal abortion have increased in Latin America – but so have campaigns and policies for medical staff to be able to ‘conscientiously object’ and refuse to participate in these procedures.

“We didn’t see it coming,” said feminist activist Lilián Abracinskas in Uruguay, a secular country where abortion, same-sex marriage and the marijuana market were each legalised in the last decade.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/diana-cariboni/conscientious-objectors-threaten-abortion-rights-latin-america

South Africa: Abortion – the legal service performed mostly illegally

Abortion – the legal service performed mostly illegally

HEALTH-E NEWS South Africa
29 Jan 2018

Healthworkers who refuse to help women who want abortions are driving them into the arms of illegal abortionists who perform more than half of the country’s procedures. But activists believe it is time to stop stigmatising this service. GILL GIFFORD reports for HEALTH-E NEWS.

“I did not used to agree with abortion, but I changed my view. It took the death of a close friend and colleague who had procured an abortion. I promised I would meet her in theatre. She collapsed 30 minutes before. Her womb was rotten. I operated on her and found massive infection. Her insides were full of pus. She was in ICU, and I prayed for her. She died after 10 days and her mother had to take in her four-year old son.”

Continued: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-01-29-health-e-news-abortion-the-legal-service-performed-mostly-illegally/