These US Abortion Restrictions Threaten Reproductive Health Everywhere

It’s imperative that advocates not limit their advocacy to the United States but expand it to countries around the world affected by US restrictions.

By Aruna Uprety, Nira Singh Shrestha, Astha Sharma, Giriraj Mani Pokharel and Sumesh Shiwakoty
Septe 23, 2022

The US Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning Roe v. Wade has sparked debate in the United States about how to protect reproductive freedom. President Biden proposed ending the Senate filibuster rule in order for Congress to pass legislation legalizing abortion rights, and he signed an executive order to “protect access to reproductive healthcare services.” In some states, legislators have enacted new laws that expanded abortion rights. However, what is missing in this debate is similar discourse and concrete actions by Democrats to protect reproductive rights not only in the United States but also in less-developed countries, which are directly affected by Republican attacks on US funding for reproductive health around the world.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/global-abortion-access-helms-her-act/

Kenya: The new government’s chance to secure reproductive rights

BY STEPHANIE MUSHO
SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

For too long, sexual and reproductive rights in Kenya have operated in a vacuum. Despite the constitution providing for the “highest attainable standard” of reproductive health, legislators have failed to enact any legislation on the issue, shooting down a bill in 2014 and another in 2019. The outgoing administration of Uhuru Kenyatta has opposed the delivery of sex education and contraception to adolescent and failed to support teenage mothers.

This has contributed to several worrying statistics. Kenya has the world’s third highest teenage pregnancy rate. Nearly 100 girls in the country contract HIV each week. Over 2,600 women and girls die annually from complications arising from unsafe abortion.

Continued: https://africanarguments.org/2022/09/kenya-the-new-governments-chance-to-secure-reproductive-rights/

07.09.2022

sexual and reproductive rights

Kenya – the New Government’s Chance to Secure Reproductive Rights

7 SEPTEMBER 2022
By Stephanie Musho

Kenya's sexual health rights are beholden to US decisionmakers. New legislators must take back control.

For too long, sexual and reproductive rights in Kenya have operated in a vacuum. Despite the constitution providing for the "highest attainable standard" of reproductive health, legislators have failed to enact any legislation on the issue, shooting down a bill in 2014 and another in 2019. The outgoing administration of Uhuru Kenyatta has opposed the delivery of sex education and contraception to adolescent and failed to support teenage mothers.

Continued: https://allafrica.com/stories/202209080005.html

Roe v Wade: How its scrapping will affect women worldwide

The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the longstanding abortion ruling will have a chilling effect on reproductive healthcare provision in low income and middle income countries.

BMJ 2022; 378
doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o1844 (Published 11 August 2022)
Sally Howard, freelance journalist1, Geetanjali Krishna, freelance journalist

In 2018 a reproductive health organisation in Kenya found that anti-abortion advocates had put the address of its reproductive rights helpline on social media. “It was a veiled threat,” its programme manager, Mina Mwangi, tells The BMJ. “They wanted us to know that they knew how to get us.”

On 24 June 2022 the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that protected women’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.1 Sexual and reproductive health rights organisations across the world, including Mwangi’s, feared the effects of the overturning in terms of funding and potential attacks. “We are heightening our security because of how emboldened the opposition are,” Mwangi says, adding that she dreads a potential withdrawal of funds from US non-governmental organisations: her organisation receives over 50% of its funding from US donors.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o1844

11.08.2022

Editorial

Featured

2020 Reproductive Healthcare Bill

African Population and Health Research Centre

Legal Action Worldwide

Legal Framework on Abortion

Maputo Protocol

Marie Stopes International

maternal mortality

Maura Daly

Médecins Sans Frontières

Mina Mwangi

Payal Shah

Phonsina Archane

Physicians for human Rights

Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

Roe v. Wade

Safe Abortion Action Fund

Sally Howard

Sarah Shaw

World Health Organization

Under attack, global sexual health ‘can’t rely on US’

by SciDev.Net
July 25, 2022

Religious campaigns and political interference could threaten hard-won reproductive health rights in the global South in the wake of the US Supreme Court decision on abortion, health advocates fear.

Cross-border solidarity and coordination will be needed to face down the growing global threat to reproductive rights, health and policy experts have told SciDev.Net.

Continued: https://yubanet.com/world/under-attack-global-sexual-health-cant-rely-on-us/

The Supreme Court has undermined U.S. credibility on human right

By Josh Rogin
June 29, 2022

For decades, the United States has been a world leader in promoting reproductive rights and women’s rights. But now, by overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has struck a severe blow to American credibility in this role. And that, in turn, undermines U.S. international advocacy on these issues, which could result in a cascade of negative consequences around the world.

Last week’s Supreme Court decision on
abortion triggered a deluge of criticism from world leaders, protests at U.S.
embassies abroad and general embarrassment for President Biden, who is
traveling in Europe. Over the longer term, international erosion of faith in
the United States’ commitment to reproductive rights and the effects of changes
in U.S. law could do real harm, according to foreign officials, lawmakers and
leaders of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) I’ve spoken with.

Unblocked: https://wapo.st/3ImcYTL

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/29/supreme-court-undermined-us-credibility-human-rights-women-abortion/

29.06.2022

Global Gag Rule

Human Rights Watch

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Jeanne Shaheen

Joe Biden

Josh Rogin

Karla Berdichevsky Feldman

Macarena Saez

Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins

PAI

Roe v. Wade

U.S. Supreme Court

A Post-Roe World?

Why Abortion Battles in America Won’t Halt Reform Abroad

By Nina Brooks, Minzee Kim, Elizabeth Heger Boyle, and Wesley Longhofer
June 16, 2022

Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court will release a ruling that is likely to overturn its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, the case that affirmed a constitutional right to abortion. Reversing Roe would have profound implications for abortion access in the United States. Such a decision would also have ramifications abroad, particularly if a judicial ruling empowers future U.S. presidential administrations to push for restrictions on abortion in other parts of the world.

It is important, however, not to overstate U.S. influence on global abortion policy. The 1973 case was a landmark in allowing abortion access and served as an example to abortion advocates across the world. But in the 50 years since, the United States’ international messaging on abortion has been incoherent.

Continued: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2022-06-16/post-roe-world

U.S. Supreme Court leak stirs abortion passions in Africa

By Andrew Cawthorne

May 31 (Reuters) - When a desperate and bleeding 17-year-old girl walked into his rural health centre, Kenyan medic Ismail Mohammed Salim thought he was doing the right thing by helping her conclude an unwanted and dangerous pregnancy.

Days later, both were in jail.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-leak-stirs-abortion-passions-africa-2022-05-31/

31.05.2022

Featured

News

Center for Reproductive Rights

Evelyne Opondo

Global Gag Rule

Ismail Mohammed Salim

Kathy Kageni-Oganga

maternal mortality

Roe v. Wade

World Health Organization

Australia – Roe vs Wade: The extraterritorial dimension of abortion politics

Anti-choice views have shaped US – and Australian – bids to block support for family planning in developing countries.

TANIA PENOVIC

Published 31 May 2022

The leaked draft majority opinion of the US Supreme Court in Dobbs vs Jackson
Women’s Health Organisation has signalled the likely overturning of Roe vs Wade
and intensified the politicisation of abortion in the United States in the
lead-up to November’s mid-term elections.

Much has been written about the politicisation of abortion in the United States
and its consequences for access to reproductive healthcare. The entrenchment of
the anti-choice standpoint in the Republican party has undermined access to
healthcare in the United States. Such attitudes have also shaped US foreign
policy, with impacts on abortion access in developing countries.

Continued: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/roe-vs-wade-extraterritorial-dimension-abortion-politics

The overturning of Roe v Wade could harm women across the world

The US policies on abortion, whether we like it or not, significantly influence how seriously governments around the world take the issue of unsafe abortions.

Stephanie Musho
19 May 2022

A leaked draft of a United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) opinion that would overturn Roe v Wade, a landmark 1973 decision that gave women the constitutional right to abortion, recently put abortion rights once again on the global agenda.

As a human rights lawyer in Kenya, I too am watching the developments in Washington, DC with worry. This is not only because I feel for American women being forced to fight for their right to bodily autonomy, but also because case law in commonwealth jurisdictions such as Kenya is sometimes influenced by decisions taken in US courtrooms.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/5/19/the-overturning-of-roe-v-wade-could-harm-women-across-the-world