Reproductive control of Indigenous women continues around the world, say survivors and researchers

Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will meet with researchers to share stories, heal and advocate for change.

June 27, 2022
by Gillian Rutherford

Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will gather with academic researchers at a summit in Edmonton this summer to share stories, heal through art and ceremony, and set an agenda for change.

The full extent of reproductive control practices around the world is not known, but they have been historically — and continue to be — targeted at Indigenous, poor and migrant women, according to principal investigator Denise Spitzer, professor in the School of Public Health and former Canada Research Chair in Gender, Migration and Health.

Continued: https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2022/06/reproductive-control-of-indigenous-women-continues-around-the-world.html

27.06.2022

Commentary

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coerced contraception

Denise Spitzer

forced sterilization

Indigenous right to abortion

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Canada – Improving Indigenous communities’ access to reproductive health services

May 30, 2022
Richard Dal Monte, University of Victoria News

Many Canadians take contraception and reproductive rights for granted. Contraceptives are widely available at drug stores and supermarkets, and abortion has been legal since 1988.

But are reproductive services and medical procedures equally accessible to all residents of Canada?

A team of University of Victoria researchers reports that while the issue is complicated, Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately subject to inequitable access.

Continued: https://www.uvic.ca/news/topics/2022+knowledge-equal-access+news

30.05.2022

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Research

Abortion Support Services Atlantic

Access to abortion services for Indigenous peoples in Canada

Astrid Pérez Piñán

Indigenous right to abortion

Indigenous women and abortion

Renée Monchalin

Health

Human Rights

Ecuador abortion laws discriminate against minority ethnic women – report

Criminalisation disproportionately affects indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian women and exacerbates inequality, says Human Rights Watch

Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá
Wed 14 Jul 2021

Gladys, an indigenous woman from rural Ecuador, went to hospital after injecting poison into her stomach to end her pregnancy. Doctors went straight to the police, and she was sentenced to two months in jail for having an abortion with consent.

Elsewhere in the South American country, a 20-year-old Afro-Ecuadorian woman went to hospital after a fall, and found out she was pregnant and miscarrying. She was swiftly arrested and spent four months awaiting trial, where she was cleared.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/jul/14/ecuador-abortion-laws-discriminate-against-minority-ethnic-women-report

Women’s Rights Are Human Rights

This fight against women's oppression is not just a struggle for women, but for all of humanity.

Tuesday, April 06, 2021

by Alison Bodine, Common Dreams

March 8, 2021, International Women’s Day, is an important day to recognize the
challenges confronted and the great victories made by women around the world,
especially in the past year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Over the last 12 months, in addition to the health challenges posed by Covid-19
itself, women have faced increasing rates of domestic violence, higher rates of
job loss, as well as a larger burden of the care of children and families
because of the pandemic. In countries like the U.S. and Canada, government
mismanagement of Covid-19 has amplified the health and economic crisis. Black,
Indigenous, and immigrant women and their communities have been
disproportionately impacted by the crisis.
Continued: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/04/06/womens-rights-are-human-rights

USA – Indigenous Abortion Access Shouldn’t Be Tied to Western Religious Values

Indigenous Abortion Access Shouldn’t Be Tied to Western Religious Values

By Kandace Littlefoot, Truthout
Published October 27, 2019

As a Diné woman raised by my maternal grandmother and my sisters, I know that respecting someone’s right to make their own reproductive health decisions is a value deeply rooted in our sovereign Indigenous communities. In our matrilineal society, women have always had direct autonomy over our lives and our reproductive health care decisions. Historical accounts show women and pregnant people in our society have engaged in some form of abortion over generations. I support abortion access because of my Indigenous matriarchal values and traditions — not in spite of them.

Continued: https://truthout.org/articles/indigenous-abortion-access-shouldnt-be-tied-to-western-religious-values/