Chile abortion debate gets key place in Constitution redraft

By Alexander Villegas
Posted on March 16, 2022

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chile’s divisive battle over abortion rights could get a central role in the Andean country’s planned new constitution after an assembly voted to approve part of the draft text that calls on the state to guarantee women’s reproductive rights.

A week after thousands of women marched through the streets of Santiago on International Women’s Day, Chile’s constituent assembly voted to include reproductive rights, including “a voluntary interruption of pregnancy” in the draft constitution.

Continued: https://www.metro.us/chile-abortion-debate-gets/

16.03.2022

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News

Carla Navea

constitutional amendment to guarantee abortion

Danitza Perez

Gabriel Boric

International Women's Day

‘I don’t feel safe’: Guatemalans denounce anti-abortion law

Women’s rights advocates and LGBTQ community members say contentious legislation puts them at ‘high risk’.

By Jeff Abbott
Published On 14 Mar 2022

Guatemala City, Guatemala – With chants of “this pro-life government doesn’t value our lives”, hundreds of people during the weekend converged on the Guatemalan Congress to show their indignation at a new law they say threatens the rights of women and members of the LGBTQ community.

On March 8, while hundreds were commemorating International Women’s Day, Guatemala’s conservative-controlled Congress approved the “Protection of Life and Family” law in a 101-8 vote. There are 160 seats in Congress.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/14/i-dont-feel-safe-guatemalans-denounce-anti-abortion-law

In Spain, abortions legal but barriers remain

07/03/2022

Madrid (AFP) – When Spanish doctor Marta Vigara was 17 weeks pregnant, her waters broke and she quickly realised the prognosis for her pregnancy was "very bad".

A geriatric specialist working at Madrid's Clinico San Carlos hospital, she immediately went to her colleagues in the gynaecology department to have a therapeutic abortion.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220307-in-spain-abortions-legal-but-barriers-remain

Thousands march in El Salvador to demand abortion rights

06/03/2022

San Salvador (AFP) – Around 2,000 women marched in El Salvador's capital on Sunday to demand the legalization of abortion and a decrease in the killings of women in the Central American country.

With slogans such as "It's my body, abortion is my right," "No more patriarchal violence" and "Women are strong and together we take care of ourselves," they demonstrated in San Salvador wearing purple or green scarves around their necks in anticipation of International Women's Day on March 8.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220306-thousands-march-in-el-salvador-to-demand-abortion-rights

06.03.2022

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aggravated homicide charges

Citizens’ Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion

International Women's Day

jailing women for abortion

Morena Herrera

pro-choice march

prosecuting women for abortion

OBGYNs in Mozambique call to strengthen gender equality and access to safe abortion

FIGO
30 April 2021
Eunice Themba, Project Manager, AMOG

In a year that saw access to reproductive health services diminish due to
COVID-19 and associated restrictions, International Women’s Day 2021 provided a
welcome opportunity to reflect on, learn about and advocate for important
women’s health topics, including access to safe abortion. Unsafe abortion
remains a huge cause of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity.

The World Health Organization estimates that around 13% of maternal deaths are
attributable to unsafe abortion, and that around 3 in every 4 abortions in
Africa and Latin America are unsafe. According to the 2011 Demographic Health
Survey, unsafe abortion was a leading cause of preventable maternal death in
Mozambique, one of ten countries in FIGO’s Advocating Safe Abortion Project. In
order to reverse this dramatic situation that affects girls and women, the new
Penal Code of 2014 was approved (law Nr 35/2014 of December 31st), that was
revised in 2019 (Law Nr 24/2019 of December 24th), which included, in Article
168, the modalities that make abortion non-punishable.

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/obgyns-mozambique-call-strengthen-gender-equality-and-access-safe-abortion

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

Poland: Escalating Threats to Women Activists

Human Rights Watch
March 31, 2021

(Berlin) – Bomb and death threats targeting at least seven groups in Poland for supporting women’s rights and the right to abortion are disturbing reminders of escalating risks to women’s human rights defenders in the country, Human Rights Watch, CIVICUS, and International Planned Parenthood Federation-European Network (IPPF-EN) said today.

The authorities should urgently investigate, protect the women targeted and hold those responsible for the threats accountable. Polish officials should also counter abusive misinformation campaigns targeting activists.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/31/poland-escalating-threats-women-activists

31.03.2021

All-Poland Women's Strike

Andrzej Duda

anti-choice death threats

anti-choice extremism

anti-choice hatred

anti-choice misogyny

anti-choice terrorism

anti-choice threats

anti-choice violence

Bartlomiej Wroblewski

Federation for Women and Family Planning

Feminoteka

FundacjaFOR

Grupa Stonewall

Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights

Hillary Margolis

Human Rights Watch

International Planned Parenthood Federation

International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network

International Women's Day

Law and Justice party

Marta Lempart

Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet

Poland Constitutional Tribunal

Przemysław Czarnek

Women’s Rights Centre (Centrum Praw Kobiet)

Women’s Strike

Women’s Strike Consultative Council

The women trapped and traumatised by Poland’s near-total abortion ban

Poland already had some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, but new changes have effectively banned them completely.

21 Mar 2021
(26 minute podcast)

Poland already had some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, but new changes have effectively banned them completely.

Many women now have to travel abroad to seek abortions or risk performing them at home.

Continued: https://www.channel4.com/news/the-women-trapped-and-traumatised-by-polands-near-total-abortion-ban

“It is the right of every woman to be able to decide independently in all matters related to reproduction, including abortion”

On International Women’s Day, Within Temptation’s Sharon den Adel dissects Europe’s differing abortion laws and why it is a woman’s right to choose.

Sharon den Adel
March 8, 2021

A lot is happening in the field of female empowerment today, and the movement has been given more of a spotlight than ever in the past few years. However, due to the recent developments regarding abortion legislation in Poland, I’ve started to wonder what the situation is in other EU countries and also the small, independent states within Europe.

I assumed that as a continent, we would be more in line with each other, but unfortunately this is not the case in the matter of abortion. Despite a growing awareness around providing equal rights for everyone, we are clearly in different stages of developing a fair environment for women in different parts of this world, even within a supposedly progressive Europe.

Continued: https://www.kerrang.com/features/sharon-den-adel-it-is-the-right-of-every-woman-to-be-able-to-decide-independently-in-all-matters-related-to-reproduction-including-abortion/

08.03.2021

European abortion laws

female empowerment

International Women's Day

Sharon den Adel

Polish women mark Women’s Day protesting abortion ban

Mar 8, 2021

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Women’s rights activists in Poland marked International Women’s Day on Monday caught between reasons to celebrate and a heavy sense that they are facing a long battle ahead.

This year’s Women’s Day, which was marked with protests, comes after a near total ban on abortion took effect in January in the mostly Roman Catholic country, a step that had long been been sought by the conservative ruling party, Law and Justice.

Continued: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/polish-women-mark-womens-day-protesting-abortion-ban

08.03.2021