‘No options’ for El Salvador’s pregnant girls raped in lockdown

Anastasia Moloney
AUGUST 31, 2020

BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More than 100 girls in El Salvador, some as young as 10, got pregnant after being raped at home during the coronavirus lockdown, but strict laws mean they have no safe options to end unwanted pregnancies, campaigners said on Monday.

Under El Salvador’s total ban on abortion, even in cases of rape, incest, a deformed fetus or when a mother’s life is in danger, the girls must carry the pregnancies to term or seek risky backstreet abortions, say reproductive rights advocates.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-el-salvador-aborti/no-options-for-el-salvadors-pregnant-girls-raped-in-lockdown-idUSKBN25R2YY

Texas wants to cut women’s health services while preserving an anti-abortion program

by Shannon Najmabadi and Edgar Walters, The Texas Tribune
Monday, August 31st 2020

Texas is proposing to cut nearly $3.8 million in funding from programs that offer low-income residents access to contraceptives and breast and cervical cancer screenings, while leaving intact a robustly funded program that discourages women from having abortions.

Texas health officials proposed the cuts while taking great pains to avoid belt-tightening in most other programs that offer direct services in health care. As the coronavirus pandemic ravages parts of the economy, leaving the state with a projected $4.6 billion deficit, Gov. Greg Abbott asked state agencies to cut their spending by 5% — but largely exempted programs deemed crucial to public health.

Continued: https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/texas-wants-to-cut-womens-health-services-while-preserving-an-anti-abortion-program

Michigan Police Express Sympathy for Anti-Abortion Clinic Blockade

8/31/2020
by ABBY LAWLOR

In the early morning of Friday, Aug. 27, 12 fanatical anti-abortion extremists in Sterling Heights, Mich., formed an unyielding blockade in front of the Northland Family Planning Center—known for providing access to abortion, pregnancy tests, treatment for miscarriages, and gynecological care, among other reproductive health care services.

There are three Northland Family Planning Centers located across Michigan—and all have been under siege from anti-choice extremists throughout the summer months.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2020/08/31/anti-abortion-clinic-blockade-in-michigan-receives-sympathy-from-local-police/

Domesticate International Legal Frameworks on Women Health Rights, Nigerian Govt Urged

August 31, 2020

Nigerian government has been urged to domesticate all international and regional legal frameworks that promote Women’s Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (WSRH&R).

This was one of the outcomes of a three-day workshop for journalists on the Global Gag Rule (GGR) and its implications on women’s health.

Continued: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/08/31/domesticate-international-legal-frameworks-on-women-health-rights-nigerian-govt-urged/

31.08.2020

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Malawi: High Rate of Maternal Deaths Worry Malawi’s Lawmakers

31 AUGUST 2020
By Tione Andsen, Mana

Government has an obligation to ensure that no woman should die due to pregnancy-related causes, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Matthews Ngwale has said.

He made the observation Saturday in Blantyre during an interface organized by Ipas Malawi and Centre for Solutions Journalism (CSJ) which drew together some Members of Parliament, gender activists, religious and traditional leaders.

Ngwale bemoaned that while neighbouring countries have drastically reduced maternal deaths, the country still lags behind as 439 out of every 100,000 women die due to pregnancy-related factors.

Continued: https://allafrica.com/stories/202008310634.html

31.08.2020

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Kenya – Unsafe abortion: The problem nobody wants to talk about

Unsafe abortion: The problem nobody wants to
talk about

By MERCY KAHENDA AND SAADA HASSAN
August 31st 2020

The images still sneak up to her when she least expects. They come unannounced,
and they torture her. Eve never imagined that the process of trying to get rid
of an unplanned baby could leave her with physical and emotional scars that
have refused to go away.

When she speaks of abortion, she whispers. The shame she feels lingers in every
word she utters.

“I get bad dreams and I am haunted by the
act,” she says.

Continued: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/the-standard-insider/article/2001384569/unsafe-abortion-the-problem-nobody-wants-to-talk-about

Abortion for 10-year-old rape victim sparks near-riot in Brazil

A near-riot in front of a hospital in the northeastern town of Recife in mid-August sent shock waves across Brazil. Inside, a 10-year-old rape victim was having an abortion.

Aug 31 , 2020, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Conservative religious groups and right-wing politicians connected to the more radical evangelical churches gathered in front of the hospital and attempted to break in to stop the abortion.

The case of Menina (Portuguese for "girl") as she became known because her identity cannot be disclosed, came to light after the Minister for Women, Family and Human Rights, Damares Alves, herself a pastor of a Pentecostal church, sent representatives to meet with the girl's family trying to convince her to keep the baby.

Continued: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/abortion-10-year-old-rape-victim-sparks-near-riot-in-brazil

Selective abortion in India may lead to 6.8 million fewer girls being born by 2030: Study

PTI, New Delhi
AUG 31 2020

An estimated 6.8 million fewer female births will be recorded across India by 2030 due to sex-selective abortions, according to a study that projects the highest deficits in the birth of girls will occur in Uttar Pradesh.

Researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, and Universite de Paris, France, noted that there has been a reported imbalance in India in the sex ratio at birth (SRB) since the 1970s due to the emergence of prenatal sex selection and the cultural preference for male babies.

Continued: https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/selective-abortion-in-india-may-lead-to-68-million-fewer-girls-being-born-by-2030-study-880460.html

31.08.2020

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USA – Supreme Court’s split decision for abortion rights gives opponents an unlikely boost

Richard Wolf
Aug 31, 2020, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court's decision in June striking down a Louisiana restriction on abortion clinics is giving abortion opponents an unlikely opportunity in other states.

Officials in Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma have in recent weeks argued that the high court's 5-4 ruling actually bolsters their defense of anti-abortion laws, even though the justices ruled against Louisiana.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/31/abortion-supreme-courts-ruling-abortion-rights-boosts-opponents/5624869002/

How Abortion Became a Tool of White Supremacists

Sian Norris
28 August 2020

When Donald Trump took to the stage of the Republican National Convention, he
talked about abortion in a way that may have shocked those in the UK.

The anti-choice US President, whose base includes Evangelical Christians happy
to turn a blind eye to extra-marital affairs and divorce so long as their man
in the White House undermines women’s reproductive rights, declared: “Joe Biden
claims he has empathy for the vulnerable – yet the party he leads supports the
extreme late-term abortion of defenseless babies right up to the moment of
birth. Democrat leaders talk about moral decency, but they have no problem with
stopping a baby’s beating heart in the ninth month of pregnancy.”

Continued: https://bylinetimes.com/2020/08/28/undercover-in-the-anti-abortion-movement-how-abortion-became-a-tool-of-white-supremacists/