UK anti-abortion charity with links to MPs ran misleading Facebook ads

Right to Life UK boosted its spend on the social media platform tenfold in three years

Sian Norris and Manasa Narayanan
Sat 16 Dec 2023

A leading UK anti-abortion charity with ties to MPs and peers has increased its Facebook advertising spend more than tenfold in three years, spending nearly £190,000 on advertising campaigns.

In a joint investigation, the Observer and the Citizens analysed the spend and content of hundreds of Facebook ads paid for by Right to Life UK between June 2020 and November 2023. The findings reveal the charity – which provides the secretariat for the Pro-Life All Party Parliamentary Group – spent an average of £117,000 in 2023, an increase from an average £11,400 in 2020, £16,900 in 2021 and £43,600 in 2022.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/16/anti-abortion-charity-misleading-facebook-ads-mps-right-to-life-uk

Banning sex-selective abortion has unintended effects on the health and education of children in India

Anisha Sharma, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics Ashoka University
27 Oct 2023

In response to alarming imbalances in its child sex ratio, in 1994 India passed an act prohibiting prenatal diagnostic methods for sex-determination and sex-selective abortions. This column explores the unintended impact on human capital attainment. It finds that the ban led to an increase in female births but also worsened health and educational outcomes for children who were born into intensively treated families. It also identifies a widening gender gap in human capital attainment after the ban. Key underlying mechanisms include increased fertility in families where girls are born, to achieve a desired number of sons, as well as increased discrimination against unwanted daughters.

Continued: https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/banning-sex-selective-abortion-has-unintended-effects-health-and-education-children

27.10.2023

Commentary

Anisha Sharma

discrimination against women

sex selection abortion

sex-selective abortion

Armenia, selective abortion remains a concern

Once a widespread phenomenon in Armenia, selective abortion has declined in the last decade. However, according to the data up to 2022, the practice of prenatal selection based on gender has started again

22/08/2023
Armine Avetisyan Yerevan

Selective abortion has been an issue in Armenia in recent years. As a result of efforts by the government and the private sector, it seemed that many families had given up on the idea of having only a male child, but after the war of 2020 the issue has become relevant again. There are still families in Armenia who choose selective abortion.

Filling the loss
“My brother died in 2020. It was a war. I missed my brother, I was looking for his replacement everywhere...”, Gayane (the name is changed), 38, who is pregnant and expecting a boy, begins her story.

Continued: https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Armenia/Armenia-selective-abortion-remains-a-concern-226673

22.08.2023

Commentary

Combating Gender Discrimination Program

Prevalence and Causes of Gender-Biased Sex Selection in the Republic of Armenia

selective abortion

sex-selective abortion

A ‘Frozen War’ in Europe Threatens Sex, Abortion and LGBTQ Rights

Armenian authorities are officially pro-choice but also desperately want to increase the country's birth rate to create more soldiers to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh.

By Sophia Smith Galer
August 14, 2023

YEREVAN, Armenia – There haven’t been any attacks at the Women’s Resource Center’s new address – at least, not yet. Anush Poghosyan, who leads the sexual and reproductive health project for the NGO, told VICE News that physical attacks were frequent before they moved to another location in the capital.

Human rights groups fighting for better sexual and reproductive health rights, including the Women’s Resource Center, have told VICE News they are experiencing increased levels of targeted harassment for the work that they do. Poghosyan said she has been asked “Why are you destroying our families?” at women’s marches, and at one event, after her organisation had translated a book for parents to speak to children about sex education, around 20 people unhappy with the book’s content arrived to throw eggs.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5ydq3/armenia-nagorno-karabakh-abortion-lgbtq-rights

Canada has zero pro-choice Conservative MPs, watchdog says

Abortion rights group places remaining 15 Conservatives on list of anti-choice MPs after vote on ‘fetal rights’ bill

Tracey Lindeman in Ottawa
Thu 3 Aug 2023

A vote on a controversial bill meant to expand “fetal rights” in Canada has left the country without a single pro-choice Conservative MP, according to an abortion watchdog organization.

This week, the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) placed the last remaining 15 Conservatives on its list of anti-choice MPs after they voted in support of Bill C-311, dubbed the Violence Against Pregnant Women Act.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/03/canada-abortion-rights-pregnancy

Indian women gain abortion rights but cost and stigma limit access

Experts say stigma and myths stemming from laws against sex-selective abortion of girls deter many women from having abortions

Thomson Reuters Foundation
24 Oct 2022

A ruling by India's top court that grants unmarried women equal abortion rights could end up being largely symbolic without concerted efforts to tackle persistent barriers to the procedure, reproductive rights campaigners say.

Stigma and myths stemming from laws against sex-selective abortion of girls deter many women, campaigners and experts said, while a lack of affordable and rural facilities are hitting poorer and marginalised groups.

Continued: https://bdnews24.com/the-long-read/q8hug027cu

China says it’s restricting abortions to promote gender equality. Experts are skeptical

Analysis by Jessie Yeung and Nectar Gan, CNN

Fri October 1, 2021

Hong Kong (CNN) For decades, Chinese authorities imposed strict limits on families that forced millions of women to abort pregnancies deemed illegal by the state.

That harsh practice has become less common since China relaxed its one-child policy in 2015. So when news emerged this week that the government wants to reduce abortions for "non-medical reasons," the backlash was swift and furious.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/01/china/non-medical-abortions-mic-intl-hnk/index.html

01.10.2021

sex-selective abortion

China restricts abortions for ‘non-medical purposes’

Move comes as China introduces new policies aimed at encouraging families to have more children amid concerns over a decline in birthrates.

27 Sep 2021

China has issued new guidelines restricting the number of abortions performed for “non-medical purposes”.

The State Council, China’s cabinet, published the new rules on Monday.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/27/china-restricts-abortions-for-non-medical-purposes

27.09.2021

Featured

News

non-medical abortions

one-child policy

sex-selective abortion

Study highlights significant concerns about a growing issue of sex-selective abortion in Nepal

Study highlights significant concerns about a
growing issue of sex-selective abortion in Nepal

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.
Mar 19 2021

Detailed, new analysis published this week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ)
Open highlights significant concerns about a growing issue of sex selective
abortion of girls in Nepal.

Drawing on census data from 2011 and follow-on survey data from 2016, the
social scientists estimate that roughly one in 50 girl births were 'missing'
from records (i.e. had been aborted) between 2006-11 (22,540 girl births in
total). In the year before the census (June 2010 - June 2011) this had risen to
one in 38.

Continued: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210319/Study-highlights-significant-concerns-about-a-growing-issue-of-sex-selective-abortion-in-Nepal.aspx

19.03.2021

Featured

Research

Center for Research Environment Health and Population Activities

Dr Mahesh Puri

Dr Melanie Channon

sex ratio imbalance

sex selection abortion

sex-selective abortion

Why COVID-19 Must Not Constrain Access to Abortion in India

Why COVID-19 Must Not Constrain Access to Abortion in India
During the pandemic, India must ensure that access to critical women’s health facilities remain unimpeded.

By Tarini Mehta
June 24, 2020

Some things cannot be stopped and started as we please, not even if a highly contagious virus demands it. A case in point is development through the different stages of pregnancy. The Indian government did declare safe abortion an essential health service on April 14, when the country was still under a COVID-19 lockdown. It brought some relief to a few women who urgently required those facilities. But things are not that simple.

According to a report by the IPAS Development Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to manage unwanted pregnancies in India, 73 percent of abortions that take place in India annually are done via medical abortion (MA) drugs that are accessed outside of facilities. Private health facilities take care of 16 percent of cases, while public health facilities cover another 6 percent. The remaining 5 percent are conducted through traditional methods that are considered unsafe. These include, but are not limited to, the usage of sticks, roots, and herbal medicines.

Continued: https://thediplomat.com/2020/06/why-covid-19-must-not-constrain-access-to-abortion-in-india/