WHO Director General Calls on Countries to Protect Women’s Right to Abortion

18/04/2023
Megha Kaveri

Two weeks after a Texas judge stirred controversy by banning a popular US abortion pill, WHO’s Director General has explicitly re-affirmed the organization’s support for abortion rights, stating that “women should always have the right to choose when it comes to their bodies and their health”.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ comments came just a day before the US Supreme Court is set to decide whether to suspend the judge’s ruling and maintain full access to the abortion drug, mifepristone, while the case is appealed. The case will be the court’s most significant consideration of abortion rights since its landmark ruling last June overturning the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing abortion rights nationally.

Continued; https://healthpolicy-watch.news/who-supports-abortion-rights/

18.04.2023

News

Food and Drug Administration

Sustainable Development Goals

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

World Health Organization

WHO chief: U.S. abortion ruling ‘a setback,’ will cost lives

The head of the World Health Organization has criticized the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade

By Associated Press
June 29, 2022

GENEVA -- The head of the World Health Organization on Wednesday criticized the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, saying the decision to no longer recognize a constitutional right to abortion was “a setback” that would ultimately cost lives.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a media briefing that decades of scientific data prove that access to safe and legal abortion saves lives.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/chief-us-abortion-ruling-setback-cost-lives-85931919

29.06.2022

Featured

News

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

World Health Organization

Global

United States

Human Rights

WHO chief: U.S. abortion ruling ‘a setback,’ will cost lives

The head of the World Health Organization has criticized the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade

by The Associated Press
June 29, 2022

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a media briefing that decades of scientific data prove that access to safe and legal abortion saves lives.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/chief-us-abortion-ruling-setback-cost-lives-85931919

29.06.2022

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan

Roe v. Wade

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

World Health Organization

Fauci: US to repeal anti-abortion rule on aid and join Covax vaccine scheme

US medical adviser’s speech to WHO signals major turnaround on global health policy by Biden administration

Michael Safi, The Guardian
Thu 21 Jan 2021

The Biden administration will repeal anti-abortion restrictions on American aid and join the international vaccine-sharing scheme Covax, Anthony Fauci has announced in remarks signalling a major turnaround in US global health policy.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced the changes in a speech to the World Health Organization on Thursday morning after being chosen to head the US delegation to the global health group in one of the first acts of Joe Biden’s presidency.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/21/fauci-us-repeal-anti-abortion-rule-aid-join-covax-vaccine-scheme

21.01.2021

MSI Reproductive Choices

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

World Health Organization

Zimbabwe: There’s no ‘goodwill’ from Robert Mugabe, a man with blood on his hands

There's no 'goodwill' from Robert Mugabe, a man with blood on his hands

Every time a man who thinks women’s lives don’t matter is granted a position of authority, the social acceptability of misogyny is reinforced

Glosswitch
Oct 21, 2017

According to the World Health Organisation, around 830 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. It’s one of those figures which, no matter how you slice it – 35 per hour, 300,000 per year – never gets any less shocking. It’s also one that isn’t likely to improve any time soon.

Around half of these deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Zimbabwe maternal mortality actually increased from 555 to 960 per 100,000 live births between 2006 and 2011, with 47 per cent of these deaths being classed as avoidable. Childbirth – a natural, necessary event, occurring daily since the dawn of humanity – is killing women, even when we have the knowledge and means to stop it.

Continued at source: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/robert-mugabe-who-goodwill-ambassador-zimbabwe-women-health-death-a8012776.html

Tedros can draw on Ethiopia’s lessons on abortion

Opinion: Tedros can draw on Ethiopia's lessons on abortion

by Saba Kidanemariam 05 July 2017

The past decade has seen tremendous progress toward women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world, especially access to safe abortion. As Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus takes the helm of the World Health Organization as its new director-general, we can’t go backwards. Women’s and girls’ lives are at stake. Tens of thousands of women die, and millions more are injured when they have no choice but to turn to unsafe “back-alley” abortions.

In Ethiopia, the government, health providers and civil society worked together to make abortion safe and accessible. Why? As in many countries in Africa and other parts of the world, unsafe abortion was a major cause of death or injury for women in Ethiopia. Women who are young and poor are most affected. And we know from experience and research that restricting access to abortion doesn’t make it safe and doesn’t make it rare.

Continued at source: Devex: https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-tedros-can-draw-on-ethiopia-s-lessons-on-abortion-90587