South Africa – The abortion rights defender using social media to educate mothers

Saturday, January 20, 2024

In the educational manual Abortion Services and Reproductive Justice in Rural South Africa, the vast nation is listed 10th in the world’s murder rankings, with 45 daily killings on average.

South Africa is the global leader in violence against women, with a woman or girl, reported raped every four minutes, and every eight hours a woman is murdered by her male partner.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/gender/the-abortion-rights-defender-using-social-media-to-educate-mothers-4496686


The Cost of Legalizing Abortion in Haiti

Legalization may occur in June 2024, but advocates say the new penal code would undermine any actual progress if enacted unconstitutionally.

ALMA BEAUVAIS
Aug 8, 2023

Katiana Pierre was about four months pregnant when she discovered that she was expecting. The 24-year-old mother of three said that when her belly started to show, the lady providing her and her children with shelter in exchange for labor kicked them out. The pregnancy meant too many mouths to feed.

A few months earlier, on July 8, 2022, gang members fatally shot Katiana’s husband as the family tried to escape a territory war that erupted in Cite Soleil, a highly impoverished commune in Haiti controlled by armed criminals. The same men then tortured and sexually assaulted Katiana in front of her kids. Two months later, Katiana was yet again sexually assaulted as she roamed the streets begging for money to feed her children.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/abortion-in-haiti-challenges/


Reclaiming Safe Abortion Access in Haiti

Haitian feminists are battling centuries of patriarchal norms in their fight for abortion rights using creative means including underground networks, political activism, and art.

BY JADE PRÉVOST-MANUEL
MAR 30, 2023

Don’t move. Those were the only words from the doctor who performed Samora Chalmers’ first abortion 15 years ago in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, during her 30-minute appointment.

Chalmers can’t tell you the details of the procedure she underwent. The doctor never told her. All she remembers is being alone with a stranger and feeling terrible pain, which anesthesia did little to numb. Three days later, she had lost so much blood that she had to see another doctor—but couldn’t tell him why because of Haiti’s strict anti-abortion laws.

Continued: https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2023/03/30/abortion-rights-haiti


Roe v Wade: How its scrapping will affect women worldwide

The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the longstanding abortion ruling will have a chilling effect on reproductive healthcare provision in low income and middle income countries.

BMJ 2022; 378
doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o1844 (Published 11 August 2022)
Sally Howard, freelance journalist1,  Geetanjali Krishna, freelance journalist

In 2018 a reproductive health organisation in Kenya found that anti-abortion advocates had put the address of its reproductive rights helpline on social media. “It was a veiled threat,” its programme manager, Mina Mwangi, tells The BMJ. “They wanted us to know that they knew how to get us.”

On 24 June 2022 the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that protected women’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.1 Sexual and reproductive health rights organisations across the world, including Mwangi’s, feared the effects of the overturning in terms of funding and potential attacks. “We are heightening our security because of how emboldened the opposition are,” Mwangi says, adding that she dreads a potential withdrawal of funds from US non-governmental organisations: her organisation receives over 50% of its funding from US donors.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o1844


‘Pasya’ album destigmatising abortion in the Philippines features BP Valenzuela, members of The Buildings, Flying Ipis and more

NME talks to artists and organisers behind the eclectic compilation, which is out today

By Michael Beltran
30th April 2021

A number of Philippines artists, including BP Valenzuela and Aly Cabral of The Buildings, have joined forces on ‘Pasya’, a compilation advocating the destigmatisation and decriminalisation of abortion in the country.

Digitally released today (April 30), the 12-track album – whose title means ‘choice’ – is also a collaboration between several pro-choice and advocacy groups: It was spearheaded by the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) and is a collaboration with the Philippine Safe Abortion Advocacy Network (PINSAN) and Filipino Freethinkers, with support from Safe Abortion Action Fund (SAAF) and Abortion Conversation Projects (ACP).

Continued: https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/music/pasya-album-destigmatising-abortion-in-the-philippines-features-bp-valenzuela-members-of-the-buildings-flying-ipis-and-more-2931054


Philippines – This music album presents tales about abortion we need to understand

Because unsafe abortion is an issue of public health, human rights, and social justice

Published April 16, 2021
by John Legaspi

Humanity has been making things taboo for a handful of reasons. Often, these are things they don’t know much about. Sometimes, they do know some things about it but reject further information. In other cases, they are given unfair images about the subject. In the case of abortion, unfortunately, it ticks all the boxes.

In the past, we rarely saw good materials about abortion. People who try to speak about it are always met with judging eyes. But thanks to modern media and art, discussions about abortion have once again arisen. Who could forget about that abortion episode in “Sex Education” or that 2020 art exhibit “Abortion is Normal” in the US? Organizations like Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) and Philippine Safe Abortion Advocacy Network (PINSAN) has been doing the same thing in the Philippines, particularly, in advocating for safe abortion.

Continued: https://mb.com.ph/2021/04/16/this-music-album-presents-tales-about-abortion-we-need-to-understand/


Cambodia – Nat’l body finds 40% of abortions illegal

Long Kimmarita

Publication date 22 July 2020

The National Maternal and Child Health Centre (NMCHC) said seven per cent of
Cambodian women of reproductive age have had an abortion in the past five
years, and 40 per cent of the procedures were performed by unlicensed
practitioners.

The figures were revealed at a three-day workshop organised by the Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia (RHAC) and funded by the Safe Abortion Action Fund (SAAF) to destigmatise abortions.

Continued: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/natl-body-finds-40-abortions-illegal


UK aid to help prevent unsafe abortions

UK aid to help prevent unsafe abortions
New UK aid funding will help prevent deaths from unsafe abortion around the world.

Published 18 July 2019
From: Department for International Development and Baroness Sugg CBE

New UK aid support for the Safe Abortion Action Fund (SAAF) will give some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable women and girls access to safe abortion.

It will also give urgent care and counselling for women dealing with the often devastating consequences of unsafe abortion and improve their access to contraception and family planning services.

Continued: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-aid-to-help-prevent-unsafe-abortions


We must hold the line against the rollback of women’s rights

We must hold the line against the rollback of women’s rights

Baroness Sugg
18 July 2019

Anne* was 14 years old when she was raped walking to visit her grandmother. When she missed her period, she realised she was pregnant. Her grandmother took her to a local herbalist who gave her some herbs to induce an abortion. Anne started bleeding heavily.

Luckily a counsellor arrived, explained what was happening and told her grandmother Anne needed to be rushed to a health centre, where her life was saved.

Continued: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/must-hold-line-against-rollback-womens-rights/


New report details the devastating impact of President Trump’s Global Gag Rule

New report details the devastating impact of President Trump’s Global Gag Rule

Wednesday, 5 June 2019

Experts at the Women Deliver 2019 Conference discuss the impact of US funding restrictions and the need for data-driven programs and policies to increase access to safe abortion

(Vancouver, Canada) – A new report released today at the Women Deliver 2019 Conference reveals that the Global Gag Rule is reducing the quality and availability of care, particularly for marginalized communities, in four countries studied. Advocates, researchers and implementing partners discussed the findings from the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) detailing the effects of the expanded US Global Gag Rule, as well as a new evidence-gathering initiative by several partner organizations designed to increase access to safe abortion.

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/0789a23add38/press-releaseglobal-gag-rule-expansion-and-the-future-of-us-global-health-policy?e=695642389f