Antigua & Barbuda – Court of Appeal upholds High Court’s decision in abortion legislation case

28 February 2025
By Latrishka Thomas

Three Court of Appeal judges have unanimously ruled that they have “no basis to interfere” with the High Court’s decision regarding a motion to strike out a constitutional challenge to the nation’s abortion laws.

Last year, abortion rights advocates initiated legal action against the Attorney General concerning the Offences Against the Person Act, a 163-year-old Colonial-era statute.

They are challenging legislation which imposes severe penalties for abortion-related activities, including up to 10 years’ imprisonment for women who terminate pregnancies and two-year sentences for those who assist in such procedures.

Continued: https://antiguaobserver.com/court-of-appeal-upholds-high-courts-decision-in-abortion-legislation-case

28.02.2025

News

Offences Against the Person Act

Sexual Offences Act of 1995

Russia – Vologda Region Clinics Illegally Refusing Abortions, Lawmaker Says

Feb 28, 2025

State-run clinics in northwestern Russia’s Vologda region are illegally denying women abortions, a local lawmaker said Thursday.

Alexander Morozov, a member of the regional legislative assembly from the Communist Party, urged the prosecutor’s office to investigate the refusals, sharing a copy of his request on the social media site VKontakte.

“When the state prevents women from receiving legitimate medical services, it only exacerbates social tensions,” Morozov wrote.

Continued: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/02/28/vologda-region-clinics-illegally-refusing-abortions-lawmaker-says-a88200

28.02.2025

DRC – Dr. Jean-Claude Mulunda: Breaking the silence on the need for safe abortion care in humanitarian settings

IPAS
Feb 28, 2025

Early in his career, Ipas Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) director Dr. Jean-Claude Mulunda, then a coordinator with a refugee agency, was confronted with the plight of women and girls who had suffered sexual violence fleeing Central African Republic for refuge in DRC.

“In my report to the supervisor, I noted that over 60% of the women and girls were rape victims. Many of them, including little girls who could not be more than 12, were pregnant. They were also dealing with sexually transmitted infections and malnutrition,” he explains.

Continued; https://www.ipas.org/news/drc-safe-abortion-care-in-humanitarian-settings/

Teens Seeking Abortions Face Huge Challenges. INeedAnA Is Here to Help

By Fortesa Latifi
February 28, 2025

I met Rebecca Nall last week, at the first Abortion In America convening in Austin Texas. The convening, which featured a range of experts and regular people telling their personal stories about abortions and abortion bans, was a beautiful example of community in a time when abortion care is being increasingly threatened. It was also emotionally fraught — listening to stories of people whose lives were turned upside down by the efforts they had to undertake to access reproductive care was disheartening. I was glad to be among them and hearing their stories, but I was also exhausted. After a mentally and emotionally draining day, sitting down with Rebecca Nall was like a strong cup of coffee. She didn’t seem exhausted; she seemed energized – and it reenergized me.

Nall is the founder and creator of INeedAnA.com, a website launched in 2016 that uses three pieces of information (ones that the website says wouldn't make an individual identifiable and that it doesn't store) to give people seeking abortions options for possible care.

Continued: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/teens-seeking-abortions-face-huge-challenges-ineedana-is-here-to-help

28.02.2025

teens seeking abortion

Nigeria – Worrisome increasing rate of maternal-child mortality traceable to unsafe abortion

by Soji Ajibola
February 28, 2025

An increasing wave of maternal-child mortality traceable to an unsafe abortion is becoming a serious concern to the stakeholders especially in health sector, especially in view of the numbers of lives the nation is losing to the unwholesome actions of quack medical practitioners and the influence of certain religious leaders.

Also, the position of the laws of both the Federal Government and the respective states in the country on abortion could be another reason why some women and teenagers seek the services of unqualified medical practitioners which often results in complications and subsequently death.

Continued: https://tribuneonlineng.com/worrisome-increasing-rate-of-maternal-child-mortality-traceable-to-unsafe-abortion/

28.02.2025

News

Creative Actors Initiative for Development

Dr Obilade Adekunle

maternal mortality

maternal-child mortality

Betrayed by the System in Brazil

Friday 28 February 2025
by L.M. Bonato

While various human rights reports show that annually between one and four million Brazilian women have abortions, the right to women’s bodily autonomy remains a major battle. Currently the law allows abortion only in the case of rape or to save the woman’s life. This means millons of women are forced to seek underground abortions.

Given the rise of conservative parties following Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, far-right politicians are seeking to roll back legal abortion even in the case of rape. Congressman Sóstenes Cavalcante has introduced Bill PL 190424, which would criminalize abortion under all circumstances after 22 weeks of pregnancy.

Continued: https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article8874

28.02.2025

Not just liberty, Roe v. Wade legitimised extinguishing the American woman’s right to life

In a country where 20 percent pregnant women face violence, and several are prone to life-altering injuries and health conditions, pregnancy must be examined as an inherently violent circumstance, posing fatal consequences to women, globally, everyday. In the post-Roe U.S., we must collectively acknowledge that this is not a simple contest between the foetus’s right to life and women’s right to liberty and privacy. It is the woman’s survival that is on the line.

Hannah Zobair
28 Feb 2025

WOMEN often describe giving birth as “a scene from a horror movie.” Accounts of mistreatment during childbirth in the United States recall harrowing stories of doctors shoving their hands up the uterus of the mother, leaving her bruised, bloodied, and with severe post-traumatic stress disorder that follows her long after the birth. The choice to have a baby can often be a fatal one, always necessitating exposure to a certain amount of danger.

In the United States, a conservative movement to recognise the fundamental right to life of foetuses, and their corresponding right to not be aborted, has evolved over decades. Conservative proponents have put forth an assertive, moral view - the State cannot perpetuate the killing of babies.

Continued: https://theleaflet.in/women-and-children/not-just-liberty-roe-v-wade-legitimised-extinguishing-the-american-womans-right-to-life

28.02.2025

Opinion

Alec Walen

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Equal Protection Clause

fetal viability

Hannah Zobair

Roe v. Wade

women's right to life

United States

Health

Human Rights

UK – Man who forced abortion has sentence increased by five years

A man who gave medication to a woman and caused her to miscarry has had his sentence increased.

Attorney General's Office and Lucy Rigby KC MP
27 February 2025

Stuart Worby, 40, from Malthouse Court, Dereham, has had his sentence increased to 17 years after it was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Solicitor General under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

The court heard that in 2022, after failing to convince the victim to terminate her pregnancy, Worby administered two drugs designed to induce miscarriages to the victim without her consent.

Continued: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/man-who-forced-abortion-has-sentence-increased-by-five-years

27.02.2025

Lawmakers in Krasnoyarsk Region Move to Ban ‘Coercion’ Into Abortion

Feb 27, 2025
Alexander Avilov / Moskva News Agency

Lawmakers in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region voted Thursday to outlaw the act of “coercing” women into having an abortion.

The bill defines “coercion” as persuasion, bribery, deceit or blackmail but exempts medical and social workers who inform women about pregnancy risks.

“Our priority is to create a safe environment for families and the value of having many children,” the Krasnoyarsk legislative assembly said.

Continued: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/02/27/lawmakers-in-krasnoyarsk-region-move-to-ban-coercion-into-abortion-a88188

27.02.2025

Guttmacher Releases First-Ever State-Level Data on Medication Abortion Provision

Data show medication abortion remains critical as federal attacks on access intensify

Feb 27, 2025

The Guttmacher Institute released the latest round of data from its Monthly Abortion Provision Study, an initiative launched in 2023 to produce monthly estimates of clinician-provided abortions in US states without total abortion bans. In addition to state and national abortion estimates from January 2023 through November 2024, for the first time the data also include state-level estimates of the proportion of abortions provided via medication in 2023 in states without total abortion bans and the proportion of all abortions that were provided by online-only clinics in 2023 in states without total bans or bans on telemedicine provision. In an accompanying policy analysis, Guttmacher experts put these findings in the larger political context, outlining the current and future threats to medication abortion in the United States.

The new data confirm that medication abortion accounts for the majority of abortions provided in nearly all US states without total abortion bans, ranging from 95% in Wyoming and 84% in Montana to 44% in Washington, DC and 46% in Ohio. These estimates expand on Guttmacher’s previous finding that 63% of all clinician-provided abortions in 2023 in the United States (excluding states with total abortion bans) were medication abortions.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2025/guttmacher-releases-first-ever-state-level-data-medication-abortion-provision

27.02.2025