From “Don’t Say Gay” to Abortion Bans, A New Pronatalism Is Here

To understand the conservative fervor around abortion, contraception, and LGBTQ rights, we have to understand the impact these relatively new rights have on the labor market.

ELIZABETH GREGORY
Jan 29, 2024

Lately, two conservative policy pushes have been sweeping the nation in tandem: abortion bans (with related threats to contraception) and anti-LGBTQ laws, including bans on gender-affirming care for transgender minors and increased action to ban books and other speech that affirms LGBTQ lives. While these are generally discussed as separate issues, both liberals and conservatives nonetheless view them as linked—either as issues of personal autonomy, or of, as conservatives might say, morality. Less recognized, but also a fundamental connection, is the shared core effect of both abortion access and same-sex love: fertility control—i.e., the ability to plan and limit one’s family size that both LGBTQ rights and the rights to contraception and abortion confer on individuals.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/abortion-bans-pronatalism/


Canada – ‘They will be refused care’: Inside an American ally’s decision to warn citizens about the US

Abortion rulings and anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the States moved Ottawa to alert Canadians about travel risks.

By ZI-ANN LUM
Dec 24, 2023

OTTAWA — It was a polite Canadian warning from a close friend and neighbor. But Canada’s updated travel advisory to its citizens, counseling them to be careful about traveling to the United States, set off an international furor last summer.

The message renewed attention over the rightward shift in state-level policies governing abortion and the rights of LGBTQ+ people — a trend that has stirred deep concern in Canada, especially after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/24/canada-us-travel-advisory-00132936


Russia limits women’s access to abortion, citing demographic changes

Experts say crackdown on abortion drugs and services is part of a project to instil ‘certain values’ in society.

By Katie Marie Davies
28 Nov 2023

Russia has long touted itself as a country home to what President Vladimir Putin often calls “traditional family values”. The Federal Assembly has cracked down on the LGBTQ community, passing legislation outlawing gender-affirming surgeries and banning “gay propaganda”.

Now social conservatives have a new target: reproductive rights. Terminating a pregnancy is a legal and widely available procedure in Russia, but in recent weeks and months, a flurry of new laws appear to limit abortion access amid fears of further population declines and a push towards conservatism.

Continued:  https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/28/russia-limits-womens-access-to-abortion-citing-demographic-changes


Canada adds indecency, abortion offences to list of ‘unjust’ historic convictions

David Fraser, The Canadian Press
March 7, 2023

OTTAWA - People who have been convicted of a number of indecency and anti-abortion offences that are no longer on the books can now have those convictions expunged.

The list of "historically unjust offences" is being expanded to include a raft of charges that date back as far as 1892 and were largely directed at the LGBTQ community and women.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-adds-indecency-abortion-offences-to-list-of-unjust-historic-convictions-1.6302792


What African feminist movements are up against in 2023

Emboldened by the overturning of Roe v Wade, Western conservative movements are dialling up their Africa campaigns.

Joy Asasira
31.01.2023

Last year’s most notable decision affecting gender justice – the overturning of federal protection of the right to abortion in the US – happened more than 6,000 miles from Africa, but its impact was felt here too.

The US Supreme Court’s decision will affect legal, policy and public service spheres on the African continent. It will also intensify the ideological war to control women’s bodies and push LGBTIQ citizens further to the margins.

Continued: https://progressive.international/wire/2023-01-31-what-african-feminist-movements-are-up-against-in-2023/en


The language we use to talk about pregnancy and abortion is changing. But not everyone welcomes the shift

By Harmeet Kaur, CNN
Sun September 4, 2022

Across the US, mainstream institutions such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CNN are increasingly opting for gender-neutral terms such as "pregnant people," "people who get abortions" and "birthing parent" in favor of "women" when referencing pregnancy, fertility and abortion.

These shifts in terminology signal an effort to be inclusive of transgender and nonbinary people who can also get pregnant. But the changes have also prompted pushback -- not just from Republican politicians who are openly hostile to LGBTQ people but also from some cisgender women (women whose gender identity conforms with the sex they were assigned at birth) who consider themselves LGBTQ allies and who support abortion rights.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/04/us/abortion-pregnant-people-women-language-wellness-cec/index.html


Malta’s Regressive Abortion Laws Tarnish Its LGBTQ-Friendly Reputation

Alana Moceri , World Politics Review
Tuesday, July 12, 2022

This spring, Malta was crowned the top European country
for LGBTQ rights and freedoms by the annual ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Index for the
seventh year in a row. The Mediterranean island country didn’t just win the top
spot. It dominated the rankings, with a score of 92 percent—nearly 20 points
above its nearest competitor, Denmark.

This recognition did not come to Malta via a high-priced PR campaign or effort to “brand” Malta as the LGBTQ dream destination. Rather, it is the result of good policymaking that ensures rights for LGBTQ people on the three islands that make up the country. However, given that Malta also has some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, what looks like a glowing public diplomacy success story also highlights the ways in which policy inconsistency can muddle a country’s image and the work they’ve put into building it.

Continued:
https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/30670/though-progressive-on-lgbt-malta-abortion-laws-damage-reputation


USA – Abortion rights might soon be gone. Activists worry same-sex marriage is next

June 2, 2022
Mary Louise Kelly, Michael Levitt, Courtney Dorning

On June 26th, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage. It was a historic ruling that signified a turning point for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States.

Fast-forward seven years, and a lot has changed. The Supreme Court is vastly different, and another landmark decision is pending, this time pertaining to the federal right to an abortion.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/02/1102491352/abortion-rights-roe-wade-same-sex-marriage-obergefell-leaked-supreme-court


‘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


USA – This Is the Anti-Abortion Movement’s Next Big Move

Anti-abortion activists are already pushing for a world where a fetus has more rights than pregnant people.

Mar 10, 2022
Caroline Reilly, Rewire News

For decades, anti-abortion lawmakers have operated under the false pretense that their only target was abortion providers. Pregnant people, depicted mostly as victims of the predatory abortion industrial complex—or some other unhinged, alarmist framework—were safe from their wrath.

But their tone has shifted as of late. The concept of fetal “personhood,” which defines life as beginning at conception, has become mainstream, and those advocates are pushing for the laws around abortion to reflect that.

Continued: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/article/2022/03/10/this-is-the-anti-abortion-movements-next-big-move/