USA – “Failed” abortions, a period-tracking spreadsheet, and the last clinic standing: the controversy in Missouri, explained

“Failed” abortions, a period-tracking spreadsheet, and the last clinic standing: the controversy in Missouri, explained
Hearings will determine if Missouri will be the first state without an abortion clinic.

By Anna North
Oct 31, 2019

At a hearing over an investigation of Missouri’s lone abortion clinic, a state official testified to something that has disturbed reproductive health advocates in the state and beyond: With the help of state medical records, his office had created a spreadsheet tracking patients’ menstrual periods.

The goal, according to the Kansas City Star, was to investigate “failed” abortions, instances in which the patient needed to return a second time to complete the procedure. The idea was apparently that, by gathering data on patients’ periods, state officials would know who was still pregnant after a scheduled abortion.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/2019/10/31/20939890/missouri-abortion-clinic-hearing-periods-roe-wade

USA – This Hidden Rule Could Make It Impossible to Fight an Abortion Ban in Court

This Hidden Rule Could Make It Impossible to Fight an Abortion Ban in Court
Buried inside a new Supreme Court case is a "wrecking ball" that could devastate abortion access.

by Marie Solis
Oct 31 2019

What if it were virtually impossible to fight an abortion ban in court?

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union got a judge to block one of the most extreme pieces of anti-abortion legislation the country has ever seen: a near-total abortion ban that Alabama’s governor signed in May and was set to go into effect in November. It’s the seventh abortion ban the ACLU has gotten struck down in court in recent months, meaning the organization has now blocked nearly every early abortion ban passed in 2019. The plaintiffs in these cases are clinics, like Planned Parenthood, or abortion providers, like Yashica Robinson, whom the ACLU is representing in the Alabama suit.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3584j/supreme-court-abortion-case-includes-third-party-standing-june-medical-services-vs-gee

31.10.2019

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N. Ireland – How We Won the Right to Choose

How We Won the Right to Choose

By Maev McDaid and Brian Christopher
10.31.2019

Coming hot on the heels of Dublin’s repeal of anti-abortion laws, decriminalization in the North is a decisive victory for Irish feminists. The church and the state are losing their control over our bodies — but we still need to make abortion legal, safe, and free.

October 22 marked a decisive victory in the North of Ireland, as abortion was finally decriminalized. This news will surely have passed many people by — after all, in national as in international media, the North is almost only ever “represented” by the bigots in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). But last week, this stridently anti-choice party was finally overruled by the Westminster parliament. Its move to decriminalize abortion in the North came fifty years after a similar step was taken on the British mainland. Yet this success especially owes to decades of heroic struggles waged by Irish feminists.

continued: https://jacobinmag.com/2019/10/northern-ireland-abortion-eighth-amendment

USA – Adoption of separated migrant kids shows ‘pro-life’ groups’ disrespect for maternity

Adoption of separated migrant kids shows 'pro-life' groups' disrespect for maternity

Jill Filipovic
Wed 30 Oct 2019

The shadow of Trump’s family separation policy is long. In its darkness: children who were ripped away from their parents, now being adopted out to American families. All with the help of those who claim to stand up for children because they are “pro-life”.

An Associated Press investigation earlier this month found that children across the country are being stripped from their parents and handed over to new families, who are able to petition for custody of them – and that state court judges can grant that custody without notifying the children’s parents. Thanks to a hastily implemented family separation policy, there are hundreds of migrant children in foster care or detention centers whose parents undoubtedly want them. But if their parents have been deported, reunification is more difficult – especially if more-powerful American foster parents decide they want to keep the child they are supposed to be temporarily caring for.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/30/adoption-separated-migrant-children-pro-lifers-deep-disrespect-for-maternity?wpisrc=nl_todayworld&wpmm=1

Combatting maternal mortality in Cameroon

Combatting maternal mortality in Cameroon

29.10.2019
FIGO news

The Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Cameroon (SOGOC) officially launched their Advocacy for Comprehensive Abortion Care project in Yaoundé on Monday September 30, 2019.

The launch included a ceremony that was presided over by the Director of the Department of Family Health, Professor Mbu Robinson. It was an occasion for the guests and the public to discover and learn more about SOGOC and the Advocacy for Comprehensive Abortion Care project. The speeches from the society’s President Prof Leke and the Focal point of the project Dr Eko, highlighted the mission, vision, context and objectives of the society and the project.

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/combatting-maternal-mortality-cameroon-0016263

U.S. federal judge blocks Alabama’s near total-ban on abortion

U.S. federal judge blocks Alabama’s near total-ban on abortion

By KIM CHANDLER The Associated Press
Posted October 29, 2019

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Alabama‘s near-total abortion ban from taking effect next month, saying the law, part wave of new abortion restrictions by conservative states, is clearly unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued an expected preliminary injunction temporarily blocking Alabama from enforcing the law that would make performing an abortion a felony in almost all cases. The ruling came after abortion providers sued to block the law from taking effect Nov. 15. The injunction will remain in place until Thompson decides the full case.

Continued: https://globalnews.ca/news/6096827/alabama-abortion-ban-blocked/

United States Objects to Mention of “Sexual and Reproductive Health” in UN Resolution on Women, Says it Promotes Abortion

United States Objects to Mention of "Sexual and Reproductive Health" in UN Resolution on Women, Says it Promotes Abortion

By Laura Powers
On 10/29/19

Shortly after a unanimous vote in the UN Security Council to pass a resolution on women, peace and security, the U.S. Mission to the UN, headed by Ambassador Kelly Craft, released a press statement criticizing references to "sexual and reproductive health."

The resolution referenced previously passed resolutions including the term, which Craft deemed unacceptable. "I must note that we cannot accept references to 'sexual and reproductive health,' nor any references to 'safe termination of pregnancy' or language that would promote abortion or suggest a right to abortion."

continued: https://www.newsweek.com/united-states-objects-mention-sexual-reproductive-health-un-resolution-women-says-it-1468541

Nigeria – Quack doctor kills woman during abortion

Quack doctor kills woman during abortion

By Charles Coffie Gyamfi, Abeokuta
28 October 2019

A mother of four, Mrs. Kehinde Olakitan, has allegedly died at the Mojisola Maternity Clinic located in Onipanu area of Ogun State while trying to get an abortion from a quack doctor. The husband discovered her body, which was dropped in front of a building adjacent to his, shortly after he was called on phone by a nurse identified as Dupe Odebunmi that his wife was ill and admitted at the clinic.

The husband, it was learnt told the police that after hurrying to the clinic he found nobody there but was shocked to find the body of his wife dumped close to their home.

Continued: https://guardian.ng/news/quack-doctor-kills-woman-during-abortion/

UK – Harassment, Tears & Distress: Inside The Battle For Bournemouth’s Abortion Clinic

Harassment, Tears & Distress: Inside The Battle For Bournemouth’s Abortion Clinic

Vicky Spratt, Poppy Thorpe
Last Updated 27 October 2019
Photographed by Poppy Thorpe.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) abortion clinic in Bournemouth is discreet. Set back on a quiet, leafy residential street sandwiched between a busy main road and a primary school, it’s flanked by two up, two down houses. Unless you had a reason to visit you wouldn’t necessarily know it was here.

But as I approach something immediately seems off. There are three women huddled together under a footbridge, sheltering from the rain and staring at the clinic’s front door. On a dull, grey October day, their presence is eerie. As I near them, I realise that they are each holding rosaries and praying, the beads moving steadily through their fingers.

continued: https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2019/10/8619550/buffer-zones-abortion-clinics-bournemouth

USA – Indigenous Abortion Access Shouldn’t Be Tied to Western Religious Values

Indigenous Abortion Access Shouldn’t Be Tied to Western Religious Values

By Kandace Littlefoot, Truthout
Published October 27, 2019

As a Diné woman raised by my maternal grandmother and my sisters, I know that respecting someone’s right to make their own reproductive health decisions is a value deeply rooted in our sovereign Indigenous communities. In our matrilineal society, women have always had direct autonomy over our lives and our reproductive health care decisions. Historical accounts show women and pregnant people in our society have engaged in some form of abortion over generations. I support abortion access because of my Indigenous matriarchal values and traditions — not in spite of them.

Continued: https://truthout.org/articles/indigenous-abortion-access-shouldnt-be-tied-to-western-religious-values/