Renewed hope for sexual and reproductive health and rights in East Africa

Time is up for policy makers to stop putting the health and lives of women and girls at risk based on implicit biases and subjective opinions

by ESTHER AOKO, Star Blogs
24 June 2022

As sexual and reproductive health and rights continue to be sidelined the world over, detrimental health outcomes like alarming rates of teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortions continue to be reported in Kenya.

The Ministry of Health recently reported over 45,700 cases of teenage pregnancies in January and February of this year alone. Additionally, over 26,000 women and girls in Kenya die every year from unsafe abortion.

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/opinion/star-blogs/2022-06-24-renewed-hope-for-sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-rights-in-east-africa/

24.06.2022

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comprehensive sexuality education

Esther Aoko

maternal deaths

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Kenya – Unsafe abortion is violence against women

Every year almost half of all pregnancies about 121 million are unintended

MWANGI ALVIN
6 December 2021

Globally, an estimated 736 million women—almost one in three—have been subjected to intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence or both at least once in their lives.

The rates of depression, anxiety disorders, unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and HIV are higher in women who have experienced violence compared to women who have not.

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/opinion/star-blogs/2021-12-06-mwangi-alvin-unsafe-abortion-is-violence-against-women/

06.12.2021

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gender-based violence

Kenya – Comprehensive Sexuality Education Is Vital To All!

MAY 26, 2021
By Alvin Mwangi, Ghetto Radio

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a lot of adolescents and young people remain and stay in homes. It is saddening that everyday we hear of injustices that adolescents and young people in all our diversities are going through in Kenya.

Access and enjoyment to the highest standard of health care is important to all adolescents and young people including the “left behind”, LGBTQ+, persons with disabilities, persons who inject drugs, young people from marginalized areas.

Continued: https://ghettoradio.co.ke/comprehensive-sexuality-education-is-vital-to-all/

26.05.2021

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Alvin Mwangi

comprehensive sexuality education

Covid-19 and contraception

Canada – My body, my business — abortion is a personal choice and right

Kathryn McIntee
March 17, 2021
Viewpoint: Reproductive Justice (Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada)

In August 2020, I was away up North when I suspected that I was pregnant again. My period was not late, but I experienced all the symptoms I felt in the past. I was alone when I took the pregnancy test that confirmed it. My partner was also in the North but in a place far more remote without any cell service. It was difficult not being able to share the unexpected news with him, but I knew I would see him in a week.

When I returned to the city, I decided to see a doctor to confirm the pregnancy and to request a referral for an ultrasound. I have been pregnant several times in the past, but many pregnancies ended due to an anembryonic pregnancy (also called a blighted ovum -- this occurs when an early embryo never develops or it stops developing; it is resorbed and leaves an empty gestational sac). An anembryonic pregnancy does not always result in a miscarriage, and so I have experienced both surgical and medical abortions to dispel the "products of conception that are contained in the uterus." I have also made a choice to end a pregnancy for personal reasons.

https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/viewpoint-reproductive-justice/2021/03/my-body-my-business-abortion-personal-choice

17.03.2021

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Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada

women's abortion stories

Global – The Year of MAGA: Making Abortions Great Again.

By Dr Suchitra Dalvie
January 8, 2021

Ok…… so now that we have your attention :) we wanted to take this opportunity to remind all of us working on safe abortion rights advocacy that Change is Possible, Change is Inevitable and Change did Happen!

Despite the terrible year that was 2020, some incredible breakthroughs took place in our world and we wanted to start the New Year by celebrating those wins--- by taking a moment to breathe and recharge ourselves and by renewing our commitment to this issue.

Continued: https://www.asapblog-prochoicediscussions.com/post/the-year-of-maga-making-abortions-great-again-by-dr-suchitra-dalvie

08.01.2021

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Asap

Asia Safe Abortion Partnership

Dr. Suchitra Dalvie

telemedicine abortion

Let us remove all doubts: Reproductive rights are essential

December 10, 2020
Anisha Aggarwal

Women have been the worst sufferers of Covid-19 due to multiple reasons. The pandemic warrants a reminder that reproductive rights are human rights – they are essential and urgent

It may not be wrong to say that human rights were introduced in India right back in 1950 with the development of the Constitution of our country. The human rights movement has seen rapid progress and success, and many national programs and mechanisms have been introduced to complement the growing recognition of an individual’s rights.

Continued; https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/let-us-remove-all-doubts-reproductive-rights-are-essential/

10.12.2020

Ipas Development Foundation

Poland’s regressive abortion law hits vulnerable women hardest

Posted on 17th November 2020
by Basia Jankowiak

The 22nd of October was one of the worst days for Polish women in 2020. It was decided by Poland’s top court that the law allowing abortion of foetuses with congenital defects is unconstitutional. The decision was backed by the leading party in the Polish government – PiS along with far-right party Konfederacja. The majority of the court’s judges were nominated by PiS, signalling the political nature of the court’s decision.

The abortion law in Poland is one of the strictest in the whole of Europe. Before the 22nd of October, Polish women were able to have an abortion in cases of rape or incest, if the mother’s health was at risk, or if the foetus has congenital defects.

Continued: https://www.thegryphon.co.uk/2020/11/17/polands-regressive-abortion-law-hits-vulnerable-women-hardest/

17.11.2020

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Centre for Reproductive Rights

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US – The Mercy of Abortion: What Republicans Get Wrong About Late Medical Terminations

ZawnVillines
Thursday October 15, 2020

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. Thousands of families across the nation will light candles for babies who were born dead, died shortly after birth, or whose births would have killed their mothers, necessitating a medical termination.

I am one of them. My daughter, Ember, died of fatal birth defects.

Continued: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/10/15/1986801/-The-Mercy-of-Abortion-What-Republicans-Get-Wrong-About-Late-Medical-Terminations

16.10.2020

fatal fetal abnormalities

later abortions

mercy abortions

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

Kenya – Explainer: Reproductive Healthcare Bill, 2019

Every person has the right to the highest attainable standard of health.

by HENRY MAKORI
21 September 2020

Opinion is sharply divided over the Reproductive Healthcare Bill, 2019 that is before Parliament. It has led to strong exchanges between supporters and opponents.

The sponsor of the Bill, Nakuru Senator Susan
Kihika, explains in the Memorandum of Objects and Reasons that the proposed law
is meant to actualise the constitutional guarantee that every person has the
right to the highest attainable standard of health, including the right to
reproductive healthcare (Article 43).

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/opinion/2020-09-21-explainer-reproductive-healthcare-bill-2019/

21.09.2020

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Protecting women’s health during a pandemic

Médecins Sans Frontières
Posted 21 Aug 2020

“If you think about times of crisis—whether it’s disease, displacement, or conflict—women and girls are often disproportionately affected,” says Eva De Plecker, a midwife and head of the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) working group on reproductive health and sexual violence. MSF teams on the ground are seeing that the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception.

“While we are still learning about COVID-19
and how pregnancy may be affected by the virus,” De Plecker says, “experience
from past epidemics such as Ebola has shown that the shutdown of services
unrelated to the outbreak resulted in more deaths than the disease itself.”

Continued: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/protecting-womens-health-during-pandemic

21.08.2020