Hundreds March in Puerto Rico in Defense of Abortion Rights

By: Carlos Edill Berríos Polanco
MAY 31, 2022

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A green wave of pro-choice demonstrators washed over Old San Juan on Saturday, May 28 —the International Day of Action for Women’s Health— to demand abortion rights be protected in the face of legislative attacks.

Following a leaked draft ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that signaled it was moving to overturn Roe v. Wade, and a push to limit abortion at 22 weeks by the Puerto Rico Life and Family Commission with Senate Project 693 (PS 693), pro-choice activists gathered in front of the Jose V. Toledo Courthouse in Old San Juan for a “Marea Verde por el Derecho a Decidir” (Green Wave for the Right to Decide) to protest against the assault on reproductive rights.

Continued: https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/05/31/prabortionmarch/

Abortion ‘doulas’ in Chile risk prison, saying women need their help

Abortion 'doulas' in Chile risk prison, saying women need their help
“We are doing this because the law is insufficient."

May 28, 2020
By Liam Miller

SANTIAGO, Chile — The woman anxiously removes the SIM card from the cheap cellphone and cuts the chip into pieces before sweeping the fragments into the trash. When her nerves pass, she allows herself a small sigh of relief.

Despite using a "burner" phone like those associated with drug deals in TV crime series, this woman is using it for a different purpose. A college-educated professional, she's one of several women in a group of abortion "doulas," part of a clandestine network willing to break the law and face prison to help women obtain abortions, as long as it's medically safe to do so.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/abortion-doulas-chile-risk-prison-saying-women-need-their-help-n1154506

The women of Argentina are divided over abortion

The women of Argentina are divided over abortion

Allison Herrera
September 2, 2019

Luciana Angueira, a social worker in Villa Fiorito, a poor neighborhood outside of central Buenos Aires, Argentina, says many of the women she sees are looking to end their pregnancies, but don't want their husbands to know.

"That would mean they are being unfaithful — the men are very possessive," she said. "We have some patients who don't believe in abortion, but they still come here looking for pills because they don't want more children."

Continued: https://theweek.com/articles/850962/women-argentina-are-divided-over-abortion

India – Allow non-allopathists to perform abortions

Allow non-allopathists to perform abortions

Saturday, 02 June 2018
Vinoj Manning | in Oped

Despite abortion being legal in India for almost five decades, every day 10 women die and thousands more face serious and permanent injuries due to unsafe abortions. This is unacceptable. Unsafe abortion is the third largest cause of maternal mortality and accounts for eight per cent of all maternal deaths in India. A recent study conducted jointly by International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Population Council, New Delhi, and Guttmacher Institute, New York, estimates that only 22 per cent of the 1.5 crore abortions that occur in India every year take place at a private or public-sector facility and are performed by trained personnel.

The shortage of trained providers and concomitant lack of facilities offering safe abortion services are two of the key contributory causes of unsafe abortions. Unfortunately, the one policy action that could address this acute public health crisis is yet to be taken.

Continued: http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/oped/allow-non-allopathists--to-perform-abortions.html

ARGENTINA – National demonstrations for 28 May & international solidarity petition gains hundreds of signatures

ARGENTINA – National demonstrations for 28 May & international solidarity petition gains hundreds of signatures
May 29, 2018
by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion

Starting on 21 May, the Campaign began to circulate a petition from Argentina to express support on the part of the international community for the comprehensive and democratic debate that is currently taking place in the four Commissions of the Argentinian Congress, and will lead to debate and a vote in June. The letter said we sincerely hope that the members of the Congress will vote in favour of the bill put forward by the abortion rights movements in the country, the 7th such attempt, and the first to be tabled and have a strong hope of success. The final debate is scheduled for June 13.

We are pleased to announce that the petition garnered 409 signatures and was presented on 28 May, the International Day of Action for Women’s Health, to the Secretaries of the four Commissions and the Administrative Secretariat of the Commission on General Legislation.

Continued: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/argentina-national-demonstrations-for-28-may-international-solidarity-petition-gains-hundreds-of-signatures

“Niñas, No Madres” (Girls, Not Mothers) regional campaign, Latin America

“Niñas, No Madres” (Girls, Not Mothers) regional campaign, Latin America

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
July 28, 2017

Planned Parenthood Global, Amnesty International, Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida Mexico (GIRE) and Latin American Campaign against Unsafe Abortion (CLACAI) have joined efforts to raise awareness on forced motherhood and its impact on girls’ lives and futures across Latin America through the “Niñas, No Madres” (Girls, Not Mothers) regional campaign. The campaign calls for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and safe, legal abortion services to end forced motherhood in girls in Latin America.

In the framework of the International Day of Action for Women’s Health, the campaign launched a call to women to share on social media what was their dream when they were girls, along with a childhood photo. The response was amazing: women from all over the region lit up social media with the hashtag #NiñasNoMadres. The timelines, full of cute pictures, brought attention to the toll that forced motherhood has taken on thousands of girls in the region. More than 40 national and international media outlets published pieces about the campaign, including Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and AJ+.

Latin America is the only region in the world where births among girls under 15 years old is on the rise. Forced motherhood in girls is an urgent public health and human rights problem.

In Guatemala, five girls under the age of 14 become pregnant every day. In Nicaragua, the number of pregnant girls aged 10-14 years old increased 47% from 2001 to 2009. In Ecuador, pregnancy among girls under the age of 15 has increased by 74% in the last decade. In Peru, every year, more than 1,100 births are to girls 12-13 years old.

Planned Parenthood Global has produced the report “Stolen Lives” in English and Spanish, which summarizes qualitative and quantitative research conducted in Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Peru to document the dire physical, mental, and social health consequences of forced pregnancy on girls living in these countries. This report was used as input for the Hemispheric Report on Sexual Violence and Child Pregnancy recently released by the Organization of American States’ Committee of Experts of the Follow-Up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention (MESECVI), which issues recommendations to States, including “ensuring that all pregnancies in girls are considered high risk and allowing legal termination of pregnancy.”

Join us in demanding a better future for girls in Latin America. Follow the campaign on Facebook @ninasnomadres and visit http://www.ninasnomadres.org for more information.

SOURCE: Planned Parenthood Global, email 17 July 2017

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Source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/ninas-no-madres-girls-not-mothers-regional-campaign-latin-america/

These Eight Pro-Choice Posters are Sparking a Dialogue on Abortion in Chile

“Tu propio me viola [You raped me].” Adding to the list of infinite reasons why women may choose abortion, this poster emphasizes that not all pregnancies result from consensual sex or the desire to have children. (Ms. Magazine)

August 4, 2016 by Cecilia Nowell

Walking through the barrio universitario in Santiago this week, I spotted dozens of new, colorful posters alongside the older, worn student protest banners. Protest art is far from uncommon in the neighborhood surrounding the University of Chile—students have spent most of the past two months on strike protesting for educational reform, and have decorated their neighborhoods appropriately. Yet, in the predominantly Catholic country, one thing certainly is uncommon: pro-choice art.

But, that’s exactly what I found outside the University of Chile: absolutely beautiful, and incredibly powerful, pro-choice artwork by the Brigada de Propaganda Feminista (Feminist Propaganda Brigade), sporting the hashtags #MisoPaTodas and #InfinitasCausales. Arguing that all women should have access to abortion medications (like Misoprostol) and that there are infinite reasons why a woman might choose an abortion, these posters are part of a larger feminist movement growing across the country. The #MisoPaTodas campaign began this past May when nineteen feminist groups joined together on the International Day of Action for Women’s Health to raise awareness about safe forms of abortion. The campaign continued this past week on July 25 when the Feminist Propaganda Brigade took to the streets with these posters to demand “un aborto libre, seguro y gratuito [legal, safe, and free abortions].”

Here’s a look at eight of the most moving, and visually stunning, pro-choice posters I spotted as the campaign continues this week.

[view posters at link]
Source: Ms. Magazine