UN experts condemn Texas abortion law as sex discrimination ‘at its worst’

Exclusive: human rights lawyer criticizes the supreme court and says new law will ‘make abortion unsafe and deadly’

Ed Pilkington in New York
Tue 7 Sep 2021

United Nations human rights monitors have strongly condemned the state of Texas for its new anti-abortion law, which they say violates international law by denying women control over their own bodies and endangering their lives.

In damning remarks to the Guardian, Melissa Upreti, the chair of the UN’s working group on discrimination against women and girls, criticized the new Texas law, SB 8, as “structural sex and gender-based discrimination at its worst”.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/07/un-experts-condemn-texas-anti-abortion-law

07.09.2021

UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls

From ‘Conscientious Objection’ to ‘Conscientiously Committed’ – How OBGYNS can advocate for bodily autonomy in access to safe abortion

1 September 2021
FIGO - Advocating for Safe Abortion Project, Committee on Safe Abortion

In this FIGO Long Read, we provide a round-up of a recent roundtable discussion hosted by FIGO's Advocating for Safe Abortion Project (ASAP) and Committee on Safe Abortion. Together with partners, we explored the critical issue of conscientious objection and its impact on the availability of and access to legal and safe abortion services.

Quote by Laura Gil: Sadly ‘conscientious objection’ has become a widespread barrier for many people to access the care that they need. It is very common to hear that women or girls cannot get an abortion on time, got an unsafe abortion, or didn't get one at all because of ‘conscientious objection‘ from the available personnel.

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/conscientious-objection-conscientiously-committed-how-obgyns-can-advocate-bodily-autonomy

UN Experts Say U.S. Abortion Restrictions During COVID-19 Crisis Violate Human Rights

Experts Condemn States’ Efforts to Restrict Access to Abortion Care

09.08.2020

UN human rights experts have declared that efforts by U.S. states to restrict access to abortion care during the COVID-19 crisis are violations of human rights.

The UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls, together with the UN special rapporteur on right to health and the UN special rapporteur on violence against women, asserted in a statement that eight U.S. states—Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Iowa, Ohio, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee—“with a long history of restrictive practices against abortion, seem to have been manipulating the crisis to severely restrict women’s reproductive rights.”

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/story/un-experts-say-us-abortion-restrictions-covid-violate-human-rights

United Nations: U.S. Authorities manipulating COVID-19 crisis to restrict access to abortion, say UN experts

United States: Authorities manipulating COVID-19 crisis to restrict access to abortion, say UN experts

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
May 27, 2020

GENEVA (27 May 2020) – UN experts* said today that some US states appear to be manipulating the COVID-19 crisis to curb access to essential abortion care.

The UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls said COVID-19 emergency orders suspending procedures not deemed immediately medically necessary had been used by states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Iowa, Ohio, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee to restrict access to abortion.

Continued: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25907&LangID=E

OPEN LETTER to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Heads of UN agencies & national leaders

OPEN LETTER to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Heads of UN agencies & national leaders
RE: International Safe Abortion Day, 28 September 2019

24 September 2019

Dear Secretary-General Guterres, international & national leaders,

We write to you as leaders of the United Nations and its agencies, and through our members to national leaders, to invite you to make a public statement from your own office/agency in support of International Safe Abortion Day, 28 September 2019. We also ask that the United Nations makes it an official UN Day.

International Safe Abortion Day has been celebrated since 1990, initially in Latin America. The date was chosen in commemoration of the abolition of slavery in Brazil. It was declared an international day in 2011. In 2012, events and activities took place in some 50 countries, rising within a few years to 60-65 countries across all continents. A growing number of national leaders and human rights bodies now recognise the day and speak out in support of its goals. Journalists are giving it more media space with every year that passes, drawing prominent national figures into the discussion.

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/open-letter-to-un-secretary-general-heads-of-un-agencies-national-leaders-international-safe-abortion-day-2019?e=372dd34034

24.09.2019