El Salvador lawmakers overwhelmingly reject challenge to country’s complete abortion ban

OCTOBER 21, 2021
AFP

San Salvador — El Salvador's Congress voted on Wednesday to uphold the country's complete abortion ban, ruling against terminations even in exceptional circumstances. Salvadoran law prohibits the procedure in all cases — punishable by up to eight years in prison.

Prosecutors and judges classify some cases of abortion, even involuntary ones, as "aggravated homicide," punishable by up to 50 years in prison.

Continued : https://www.cbsnews.com/news/el-salvador-abortion-ban-upheld-by-congress/


Polish activists seek support for liberalizing abortion law

Polish women’s rights activists and left-wing lawmakers have presented a plan to collect signatures in support of a proposal to legalize abortion in the predominantly Catholic country

By VANESSA GERA, Associated Press
3 February 2021

WARSAW, Poland -- Polish women's rights organizations and left-wing lawmakers presented a plan Wednesday to collect signatures in support of a proposal to legalize abortion in the predominantly Catholic country.

The initiative comes in reaction to the recent imposition of a near-total ban on abortion in Poland. The country's constitutional court ruled in October that abortions of fetuses with congenital defects were illegal. The decision triggered the largest mass protest movement in Poland's post-communist era, and the new restriction took effect last week.


Abortion is legal in Namibia, but only if a woman is in danger or has been sexually abused.

Activists are demanding reform.

By Aisha Salaudeen, and Bukola Adebayo, CNN
Thu November 26, 2020

(CNN) What do you do when your country is torn between decriminalizing abortion and maintaining its colonial abortion laws? Start a debate.

That's the idea being put forward by Esther Muinjangue, Namibia's deputy minister of health and social services.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/26/africa/namibia-abortion-reform-intl/index.html


India – SC Issues Notice On PIL Seeking Decriminalization Of Abortion

SC Issues Notice On PIL Seeking Decriminalization Of Abortion [Read Petition]

Live Law News Network
15 July 2019

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Centre in a Public Interest Litigation seeking decriminalization of abortion and declaration of right to complete autonomy of a woman to make decisions related to reproductive choices.

The petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India jointly filed by Swati Agarwal, Garima Sekseria and Prachi Vats challenges the validity of Sections 3(2), 3(4) and 5 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 as discriminatory and violative of personal liberty and bodily autonomy.

Continued: https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/sc-issues-notice-on-pil-seeking-decriminalization-of-abortion-146377


El Salvador: Failure to decriminalize abortion is a terrible blow to human rights

El Salvador: Failure to decriminalize abortion is a terrible blow to human rights
26 April 2018

The failure to pass a reform to decriminalize abortion during El Salvador’s latest legislative cycle is a sickening step backwards for human rights, said Amnesty International today.

“El Salvador’s lawmakers have blood on their hands after declining to even discuss the reform to decriminalize abortion. This desperately needed bill would have saved the lives of countless women and girls who are needlessly put at risk by the total ban on abortion. The wasted opportunity to end this injustice is a terrible blow to human rights in El Salvador,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/04/el-salvador-failure-to-decriminalize-abortion-is-a-terrible-blow-to-human-rights/


Taboo No More? Abortion in South Korea

Taboo No More? Abortion in South Korea
Responding to a public petition, the Moon administration will take a close look at the current abortion ban.

By Clint Work
December 09, 2017

In August, the Moon administration announced it would publicly respond to any petition posted to the Blue House website that received more than 200,000 signatures. On September 30, a petition emerged calling for the decriminalization of abortion and legalization of abortion pills, based on a woman’s right to her own body. By late October, the petition surpassed the threshold required for public comment, and (as of this writing) has received a total of 235,372 signatures. In a video posted November 26, Blue House Secretary for Civil Affairs Cho Kuk offered the government’s response.

Cho said the government would conduct a fact-finding study next year to accurately determine the status of abortion in South Korea, gather public opinion data on the issue, and examine the reasons behind the criminal ban on the practice. The last such study, conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, occurred in 2010. Although previously carried out at five-year intervals, the funds apparently were unavailable in 2015 under the administration of Park Geun-hye.

Continued at source: https://thediplomat.com/2017/12/taboo-no-more-abortion-in-south-korea/


Demanding Access to Abortion in South Korea

Demanding Access to Abortion in South Korea
235,000 Petitioners Call for South Korean Government to Act

Heather Barr, Senior Researcher, Women's Rights Division heatherbarr1
November 24, 2017

Abortion is illegal in South Korea. But women are demanding change, and more than 235,000 have signed a petition, posted by a netizen on September 30 on the presidential office website, that calls for the government to legalize abortion, including by providing access to mifepristone, an abortion-inducing drug available in many countries around the world.

This petition mechanism demonstrates a new level of access and participation in South Korea’s government. The way it works is the government allows members of the public to post a petition on its website for 30 days. In August, the new government of president Moon Jae-in reiterated its commitment by pledging to formally respond within 30 days to any petition that gathers more than 200,000 signatures.

Continued at source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/11/24/demanding-access-abortion-south-korea