USA – How to Get Abortion Pills, Regardless of What the Courts Say

Even as courts and politicians attempt to restrict abortion access, medication abortion remains widely available through international telehealth providers, community networks and vetted online sources.

May 11, 2026
by Carrie N. Baker, Ms. Magazine

As legal battles over abortion pills continue to play out in the courts, many people across the United States are asking the same urgent question: If the Supreme Court or lower courts restrict access to mifepristone by mail, how can American women still get abortion pills?

The short answer: There are still multiple ways to safely and affordably access abortion medication.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2026/05/11/how-to-get-abortion-pills/

Hungary’s New Government and SRHR Commitments

ASTRA Network Commentary
May 11, 2026

Hungary’s 2026 election marks a major political shift. The new government led by Péter Magyar has presented a program with several constructive commitments relevant to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), equality, institutional independence, and civil society space. These include pledges to restore key institutional safeguards, improve the operating environment for civil society, address menstrual poverty, and strengthen responses to violence against women.

At the same time, the program remains marked by strategic ambiguity and serious omissions. It does not amount to a coherent SRHR or human rights agenda. Core issues such as contraception, abortion-related barriers, comprehensive sexuality education, LGBTQ+ equality, Roma women’s health, and socio-economic barriers to reproductive autonomy are either absent or insufficiently addressed. ASTRA Network welcomes the positive openings in the program, but stresses that these must be translated into explicit guarantees, implementation mechanisms, and protections for those most exposed to discrimination and rights violations.

Continued: https://astra.org.pl/astra-network-commentary-hungarys-2026-elections-and-the-incoming-governments-commitments-on-srhr-and-human-rights/

11.05.2026

Commentary

ASTRA Network

Péter Magyar

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Finland sees abortions rise for third year in a row

An increasing number of women have had multiple abortions, according to the Institute for Health and Welfare

Yle News, STT
May 11, 2026

About a third of women who ended their pregnancies last year had at least one abortion in the past.

More than 9,000 abortions were performed in Finland last year, according to a statistical report from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

The figure reflected a nearly four-percent increase compared to 2024.

Continued: https://yle.fi/a/74-20225372

11.05.2026

News

Finland abortion rate

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Europe

Finland

SCOTLAND – Sheriff deserts first abortion buffer zone prosecution after finding Crown failed to specify all elements of offence

11 May 2026

A Glasgow sheriff has deserted proceedings pro loco et tempore in the first prosecution raised in Scotland for a contravention of abortion buffer zone legislation after finding that the complaint failed to libel two necessary elements of the offence and in consequence constituted an unlawful interference with the accused’s rights under Article 10 ECHR.

Rose Docherty, aged 75, was charged under section 4 of the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act 2024 for allegedly displaying placards within a safe zone for the purpose of influencing the decision of persons to access, provide, and facilitate the provision of abortion services at the protected premises. Objection was taken by the accused to the relevancy of the charges in addition to a compatibility challenge per article 10 ECHR.

Continued; https://www.scottishlegal.com/articles/sheriff-deserts-first-abortion-buffer-zone-prosecution-after-finding-crown-failed-to-specify-all-elements-of-offence

11.05.2026

Commentary

Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act

anti-choice protesters

India – Haryana tracks 3,962 abortion cases amid intensified operation against female foeticide

Ipsito Pati
May 11, 2026

Gurgaon: Haryana has reverse-tracked nearly 4,000 medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) /abortion cases over the past 18 months even as private hospitals have emerged as the biggest focus area.

The high number of abortions conducted at home has also emerged as a concern for authorities monitoring possible misuse of illegally procured MTP kits.

Continued: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/haryana-tracks-3962-abortion-cases-amid-intensified-operation-against-female-foeticide/articleshow/130998280.cms

11.05.2026

News

female foeticide

MTP kits

sex selection abortion

India – Medical boards are gatekeeping abortion access

Expert committees constituted to advise courts on medical termination of pregnancy are advocating for the rights of an unborn child, not recognised in Indian law.

By: Ritika Jain
10 May, 2026

The Supreme Court, on April 30, disagreed with an appeal by a medical board, and permitted a 15-year-old girl in her third trimester to terminate her pregnancy. This was the second such case this year alone where the Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has argued for the rights of the foetus. However, the court was informed in a hearing on May 4 that the minor child gave birth to a baby boy on May 2.

The 15-year-old had become pregnant, the petition said, as a result of a consensual relationship with a 17-year-old boy. The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan overruled the Delhi High Court and permitted termination in an order on April 24, which was then challenged by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) seeking protection for an “unborn child”.

Continued; https://www.newslaundry.com/2026/05/11/medical-boards-are-gatekeeping-abortion-access

Kenya – A hospital bed is not a crime scene

May 8, 2026

There is a girl at the centre of this case.
Seventeen.
In pain.
Bleeding.
Afraid.
She went to a clinic for help. She was arrested instead.

Removed from a hospital bed, made to sign a statement, subjected to a forced medical examination, and detained when she should have been healing. Before we debate statutes and sections, we must sit with this: a child seeking care was treated as a criminal.

This is not just a legal issue. It is a public health crisis in slow motion.

Continued: https://hapakenya.com/2026/05/08/a-hospital-bed-is-not-a-crime-scene/

08.05.2026

USA – They Came for Mifepristone. The Abortion Rights Movement Is Ready.

As the abortion pill heads back to the Supreme Court, advocates have a backup that’s effective and safe: misoprostol alone.

Nina Martin, Mother Jones
May 7, 2026

Medication abortion is back at the US Supreme Court—which is exactly where abortion opponents want it. Last week, in a late Friday afternoon move guaranteed to stoke maximum confusion and panic, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a Food and Drug Administration rule allowing telemedicine prescription of mifepristone, one of two drugs that make up the gold-standard abortion-pill regimen. On Monday morning, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito put that ruling on pause until May 11.

But even as abortion advocates expressed relief that telemedicine abortions can continue for a few more days, the order by Alito—the same ultraconservative who wrote the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022—was at best a reprieve. At some point soon, the court’s right-wing supermajority could drastically curtail or cut off access by mail to an extremely safe and effective drug that has been used by hundreds of thousands of women a year since Dobbs, including in states where abortion is banned. Almost two-thirds of abortions in the US now happen with pills, and nearly 30 percent occur by telemedicine.

Continued; https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/they-came-for-mifepristone-the-abortion-rights-movement-is-ready/

Stranger Removal: Inside Kenya’s Dangerous Underground Abortion Market

Abortion in Kenya exists in a legal grey zone. It is permitted under the 2010 Constitution in specific circumstances.

Elvine Tina Ouma
May 7, 2026

On March 3, 2025, a short video went viral on TikTok, captioned “Get ready with me to go for stranger removal.” The two-minute clip amassed more than 90k+ views, likes, comments, and shares. The video documented a young woman preparing for an abortion without ever mentioning the word.

The phrase “stranger removal” is a part of a growing digital code. It is ‘algospeak’—coded language used to evade automated content moderation systems that flag posts containing words like abortion.

In Kenya, the phrase has quickly entered online slang. But its spread reflects something more significant. Behind the coded language is an expanding underground abortion market shaped by legal ambiguity, high costs, and limited access to safe services. Increasingly, that market is taking shape online.

Continued: https://www.theelephant.info/analysis/2026/05/07/stranger-removal-inside-kenyas-dangerous-underground-abortion-market/

Global – Law and policy practice guide for quality abortion care

7 May 2026
World Health Organization | Publication

Unsafe abortion and restrictive legal environments remain significant contributors to preventable morbidity and mortality, underscoring the need for evidence-based, rights-aligned frameworks to ensure access to quality abortion care. This document presents operational guidance developed to support Member States in reforming, interpreting and implementing laws and policies grounded in international human rights law and principles, in line with the recommendations on abortion care.

The guide outlines a structured, iterative approach to law and policy reform organized into four interconnected phases: understanding the current legal and health context, designing appropriate interventions, implementing reforms, and reviewing outcomes.

continued: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240121102

07.05.2026