Canada – Calling out Andrew Scheer’s religious extremism

Calling out Andrew Scheer's religious extremism
With an election on the way it needs to be asked whether the man who wants to be prime minister really does believe that LGBTQ people are disordered and immoral

by Michael Coren
June 30, 2019

Once again Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the man who wants to be the country’s next prime minister, has refused to participate in Toronto's annual Pride parade. It’s the third year in a row that Scheer has declined.

At a time when homophobic violence and abuse has seen a tragic upturn in the west (including Canada) – and when homosexuality is still considered a crime punishable by imprisonment or even execution in numerous countries – the reasons Scheer has offered for his absence have varied. But none have been credible.

Continued: https://nowtoronto.com/news/andrew-scheer-pride-religion/


Trump’s new rules on Title X and abortion referrals are absurd. How did judges miss that

Trump’s new rules on Title X and abortion referrals are absurd. How did judges miss that?

By The Times Editorial Board
Jun 29, 2019

When the Trump administration announced a new policy denying federal funding to any family planning care providers that dared even to refer a pregnant patient to an abortion provider, three federal district courts correctly concluded that the rule could endanger healthcare for millions of people and issued temporary injunctions preventing it from going into effect around the country. So it was a depressing step backward when, last week, a panel of 9th Circuit judges reversed those courts and lifted the injunctions.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-title-x-abortion-appeals-court-injunction-20190629-story.html


USA – Inside The Dangerous Rise Of ‘Abortion Reversal’ Bills

Inside The Dangerous Rise Of ‘Abortion Reversal’ Bills
This year, five states have passed laws mandating that physicians tell patients their abortions can be reversed — even though evidence says otherwise.

By Melissa Jeltsen, HuffPost US
June 29, 2019

The number of states that require doctors to tell patients their abortions can be reversed with an experimental treatment doubled this year.

The rise of so-called “abortion reversal” bills has alarmed leading medical groups that say such legislation forces physicians to give misleading, unscientific and potentially dangerous advice to women, undermining the trusted doctor-patient relationship.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/abortion-reversal-bills_n_5d164c6ee4b07f6ca57cc6fc


Kirsten Gillibrand gave her opponents a history lesson on abortion politics at the debate

Kirsten Gillibrand gave her opponents a history lesson on abortion politics at the debate
Democrats have similar positions on abortion. The New York senator asked how hard they’ll fight.

By Anna North
Jun 28, 2019

Many candidates in this week’s Democratic debates talked about the future of abortion rights in America. But Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was one of few to talk about the history.

The exchange started with a question to Sen. Bernie Sanders about how he would preserve abortion rights if the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade were overturned before he became president. Sanders responded that his Medicare for All bill would cover abortion for anyone who wanted it.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/28/18942612/democratic-debate-june-2019-2020-kirsten-gillibrand


Doctors can lead case to change Northern Ireland’s highly restrictive abortion laws

Doctors can lead case to change Northern Ireland’s highly restrictive abortion laws

BMJ 2019; 365
doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4463
Published 28 June 2019

Elisabeth Mahase

The trusted voices of doctors and medical staff are the key to changing abortion laws to give women in Northern Ireland choice, according to a panel of experts.

The panel—which met in Belfast on 23 June to discuss access to safe abortions—shared their experiences of caring for women and seeing the impact of restrictive abortion laws.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l4463.full


Canada/USA – The female game designers fighting back on abortion rights

The female game designers fighting back on abortion rights
Through video games, live-action role-playing games and interactive documentaries, developers are challenging the conversation around reproductive rights

Laura Hudson
Fri 28 Jun 2019

The year is 1972. You’re part of an underground network of feminists in Chicago that provide illegal (at the time) abortion services to vulnerable, pregnant people with few options. Despite the risk of imprisonment, and the ways that your personal experiences may not always perfectly align with your activism, you persist.

It’s emotionally complicated. It’s politically fraught. It’s a live-action roleplaying game by Jon Cole and Kelley Vanda called The Abortionists, which requires three players, one facilitator, six hours and a willingness to dig deep into the painful history of reproductive rights in the United States. That history has terrifying relevance in 2019, as numerous states pass laws that put their residents in a reality where abortion is functionally illegal. Based on the real-life work of a 1970s activist group called Jane, it challenges its participants to think about the “internal landscapes” of its players, and how they deal with the larger political and personal landscape of their world.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/jun/28/the-women-game-designers-fighting-back-on-abortion-rights


USA – A pregnant woman was shot in the stomach. She was charged in the death of the fetus.

A pregnant woman was shot in the stomach. She was charged in the death of the fetus.

By Michael Brice-Saddler and Alex Horton
June 28, 2019

A 27-year-old Alabama woman was indicted on manslaughter charges Wednesday in the loss of her pregnancy, even though, police say, another woman pulled the trigger.

The moment quickly became a flash point in the broader debate over abortion, particularly in Alabama, and raised questions over how fairly manslaughter charges can be applied in the state.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/27/pregnant-woman-was-shot-stomach-she-was-indicted-her-babys-death/


USA – Supreme Court Rejects Alabama Bid to Bar Common Abortion Method

Supreme Court Rejects Alabama Bid to Bar Common Abortion Method

By Greg Stohr
June 28, 2019

The U.S. Supreme Court steered clear of the nation’s fractious abortion debate, refusing to consider Alabama’s effort to ban the most common method used for women in their second trimester of pregnancy.

The state was seeking to revive a ban on a method, known as dilation and evacuation, that involves dismembering the fetus and then removing it from the uterus. Alabama called the procedure a “particularly gruesome type of abortion” that states have the power to prohibit.

Continued: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-28/supreme-court-rejects-alabama-bid-to-bar-common-abortion-method?utm_source=google&utm_medium=bd&cmpId=google


The Myriad Meanings of a Pregnancy

The Myriad Meanings of a Pregnancy
It is not difficult to support a woman’s right to choose and to help her mourn a baby lost.

By Julia Bueno
June 28, 2019

I meet a lot of women in my working life who are desperate to become mothers, and also those who may have to delay motherhood, or not want to take that path. They seek me out for help with a range of psychological and emotional issues: We discuss their inner and outer worlds, how they relate to others and themselves, their bodies, their pregnancies and in some cases, the babies they’d hoped to have but lost. Our conversations, in England, are rooted in a freedom that is currently imperiled across the United States, from Georgia to Alabama to Iowa, and that my fellow citizens in Northern Ireland also don’t have. I’ve been starkly reminded in recent months how the state can have a tremendous bearing on a woman’s private life.

I am a psychotherapist specializing in pregnancy loss. I am also a firm believer in a woman’s right to her bodily autonomy. I could never have predicted how my work would buttress my belief that a woman’s desperate desire for her pregnancy to end in a live birth is as equally valid and honorable as the next woman’s choice to end hers.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/28/opinion/abortion-miscarriage.html


India – Sexual health largely neglected, reproductive health not a priority in policy discourse

Sexual health largely neglected, reproductive health not a priority in policy discourse

The story highlights harsh truths on sexual and reproductive rights, which are mostly not protected and thus practically non-existent.
Kalpana Apte
27th Jun 2019

Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR) is a concept that Indians, and South Asians are largely ignorant and aloof about. The taboo around topics like sex and sexuality is the root cause for the many issues people, especially women, face daily. According to a 2019 report by the Family Planning Association (FPA), India, 14 per cent of pregnancies amongst women aged under 20 are unplanned. It posits further that over 34 per cent of adolescent married girls admitted to being physically, emotionally, or sexually assaulted. Fifty per cent of maternal deaths among girls from 15-19 years of age occur due to unsafe abortion practices. All this in a scenario where sexual and reproductive health is not even a category that has its own laws and medical courses.

Continued: https://yourstory.com/socialstory/2019/06/sexual-health-reproductive-health-policy-discourse