‘Pregnancy is not a disease’: why do so many women die giving birth in Nigeria?

More than 80,000 Nigerian women died from pregnancy-related complications in 2020, a statistic activists say reflects a lack of political will to fix a broken medical system

by Kasia Strek in Lagos (The Guardian)
Tue 16 Apr 2024

Despite having the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria also loses more women to death in childbirth than most other countries in the world. In 2020, about 82,000 Nigerian women died due to pregnancy-related complications, a slight improvement on the previous year, but an increase on previous decades.

The causes of death included severe haemorrhage, high blood pressure (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia), unsafe abortion and obstructed labour. Doctors and activists say high maternal mortality rates reflect a lack of trust in a broken public healthcare system and little political will to fix it.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/16/pregnancy-is-not-disease-why-do-so-many-women-die-giving-birth-in-nigeria-one-of-africas-richest-countries

The Mexican state closest to Arizona bans most abortions, setting up a regional void

Arizona’s Supreme Court ruled last week that an 1864 law banning most abortions from the moment of conception could be enforced, sending the state into chaos.

April 16, 2024
By Isabela Espadas Barros Leal and Albinson Linares

Though American and Mexican women have long relied on one another for abortion care, the impending restrictions in Arizona are set to create a regional lack of access that spans into the neighboring Mexican state of Sonora — where abortion is also banned with minimal exceptions.

Such stringent abortion restrictions have left organizers scrambling to support women seeking care on both sides of the border. “Because we are on the border with the United States, what happens there affects us,” Leticia Burgos Ochoa, an abortion rights activist and former Mexican senator based in Sonora, told NBC News.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mexican-state-sonora-closest-arizona-bans-abortions-creating-regional-rcna148060

Ipas DRC and Canada partner for sustainable access to reproductive health care in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Access to safe and legal abortion and contraception improves the health of women and girls and represents a fundamental human right. The ability to decide if and when to become pregnant is a symbol of reproductive justice and gender equality.

HABYGAELLE MUZIE, Communications Advisor
APRIL 15, 2024

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the publication of the Maputo Protocol in the official gazette has been followed by other milestones, such as the publication of a circular guaranteeing access to abortion care in line with the Protocol’s indications and the Ministry of Public Health’s adherence in 2020 to the evolving standards and directives relating to the application of the Protocol’s guidelines. All these actions made DRC the first country in French-speaking Africa to have implemented far-reaching changes promoting wider access to abortion care.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/country-impact/ipas-drc-and-canada-partner-for-sustainable-access-to-reproductive-health-care-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo/

Abortion laws in Europe

By Reuters
April 15, 2024

BERLIN - Here is an overview of abortion laws across Europe, where the general trend has been towards liberalisation but some countries are imposing restrictions on women seeking to terminate a pregnancy, and deep divisions over abortion rights remain:

FRANCE - Became the world's first country to make women's free choice to request an abortion a constitutional right in March 2024.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/abortion-laws-europe-2024-04-15/

15.04.2024

Poland’s abortion law bickering plagues Tusk coalition

The liberalization of abortion rights was a major election promise made by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. But the issue is controversial and there are major hurdles to a new law.

Jacek Lepiarz
April 15, 2024

Polish women had to wait a long time for this day. Some four months after the center-left coalition under Donald Tusk took office, the liberalization of abortion was finally on the agenda for the Sejm, the country's lower house of parliament. The debate was fierce.

"Old men in suits will no longer decide what women must do with their bodies," shouted Anna Maria Zukowska, a member of parliament for the co-governing The Left alliance, at the presentation of the bill on Friday. "No more hell for women!"

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/polands-abortion-law-bickering-plagues-tusk-coalition/a-68812592

“Abortionist”: The Label That Turns Healthcare Workers Into Criminals

The moniker has branded those who help terminate pregnancies as illegitimate, dangerous, and, in turn, allowable targets of violence.

KATIE HERCHENROEDER, Mother Jones
May/June 2024 issue (posted April 15)

In 2007, after Paul Ross Evans pleaded guilty to leaving a bomb outside of a women’s health clinic in Austin, he assured the judge: He never meant for anyone to get hurt. “Except,” he clarified, “for the abortionists.”

For almost two centuries, the moniker “abortionist” has branded those who help terminate pregnancies as illegitimate, dangerous, and, in turn, allowable targets of violence. Before Roe v. Wade, the label turned midwives and doctors into criminals to be cracked down on by the state. After the 1973 decision, right-wing movements continued to deploy the term to imply only back-alley doctors performed abortions.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/04/abortionist-the-label-that-turns-healthcare-workers-into-criminals/

Justa Libertad: A Movement to Decriminalize Abortion in Ecuador

The Green Wave Continues to Make Strides in Latin America

April 15, 2024
Cristina Quijano Carrasco, Researcher, Women's Rights - Human Rights Watch

Justa Libertad, an Ecuadorian coalition of eight civil society organizations, recently filed a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court of Ecuador seeking to decriminalize abortion. This crucial initiative seeks to ensure that women, girls, and other pregnant people can access safe abortion care. It follows similar coalitions that achieved progress in other Latin American countries like Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina.

Abortion is currently penalized in Ecuador with up to three years in prison, with exceptions for cases in which the pregnancy represents a risk to the life or health of the pregnant woman or, after a 2021 Constitutional Court ruling, when the pregnancy is the result of sexual violence. Even for cases that fit these narrow exceptions, accessing abortion care remains challenging due to stigma among health personnel and other institutions that hold the belief that once pregnant, women and girls are obligated to become mothers.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/15/justa-libertad-movement-decriminalize-abortion-ecuador

15.04.2024

News

Constitutional Court of Ecuador

Cristina Quijano Carrasco

decriminalization of abortion

Abortions in first 12 weeks should be fully legalised in Germany, commission says

By Friederike Heine
April 15, 2024
(with video)

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany should lift all restrictions on abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy but keep its ban on the procedure after foetal viability, around 22 weeks, a government-appointed commission said on Monday.

Women in Germany now typically require counselling to obtain a legal abortion within the first 12 weeks, with exceptions including for victims of violent crime. There are no time restrictions for abortions if the mother's life is in danger.

"The fundamental illegality of abortion in the early phase of pregnancy is untenable," said Liane Woerner, a law professor at Konstanz University and a member of the 18-member panel of experts in medicine, psychology, ethics and law.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/abortions-first-12-weeks-should-be-legal-germany-commission-says-2024-04-15/

15.04.2024

Polish opponents of abortion march against recent steps to liberalize strict law

Thousands of Polish opponents of abortion are marching in Warsaw to protest recent steps by the new government to liberalize the predominantly Catholic nation's strict laws and allow termination of pregnancy until the 12th week

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA, Associated Press
April 14, 2024

WARSAW, Poland — Thousands of Polish opponents of abortion marched in Warsaw on Sunday to protest recent steps by the new government to liberalize the predominantly Catholic nation’s strict laws and allow termination of pregnancy until the 12th week.

Many participants in the downtown march were pushing prams with children, while others were carrying white-and-red national flags or posters representing a fetus in the womb.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/polish-opponents-abortion-march-recent-steps-liberalize-strict-109215375

14.04.2024

Conservative opposition leader Kaczynski willing to support liberalising Poland’s abortion law

APR 14, 2024
Notes from Poland

Conservative opposition leader Jarosław Kaczyński has indicated he would be willing to support softening Poland’s near-total abortion ban, which was introduced under the rule of his own Law and Justice (PiS) party. But he warns this could only happen by changing the constitution.

The move marks an apparent shift from Kaczyński, who has previously expressed expressed support for the near-total ban. Another leading PiS figure, former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, has reiterated his own support for softening the law.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/04/14/conservative-opposition-leader-kaczynski-willing-to-support-liberalising-polands-abortion-law/

14.04.2024