MALTA: ‘Young people see the value in protecting women’s health over enforcing religious doctrine’

Natalie Psaila Stabile | MALTA
29.May.2026

CIVICUS discusses the Women on Waves campaign to expand access to abortion with Dr Natalie Psaila Stabile, a reproductive rights advocate and member of Doctors for Choice Malta, an organisation that campaigns for the decriminalisation of abortion and access to reproductive healthcare.

In April 2026, the international reproductive rights organisation Women on Waves placed safes containing abortion pills at undisclosed locations across Malta, prompting calls from civil society groups opposed to abortion for the authorities to investigate. The intervention coincided with a broader European debate over cross-border access to reproductive healthcare, intensifying scrutiny of Malta’s restrictive legal framework.

Continued: https://lens.civicus.org/interview/malta-young-people-see-the-value-in-protecting-womens-health-over-enforcing-religious-doctrine/

29.05.2026

Interviews/Podcasts

Doctors For Choice Malta

Dr Natalie Psaila

Natalie Psaila Stabile

Global – ‘These are no longer amateurs with billboards’

EPF Director Neil Datta on the growing power of anti-gender movements, their increasing professionalisation and the role of religion

May 26, 2026
IPS Journal

You describe today’s anti-gender movement as ‘the next wave’. What is meant by this?

By ‘the next wave’, I mean that in terms of the anti-gender movement – the movement against sexual and reproductive rights, sexual minorities, gender and children – we’re dealing with a fundamentally different movement than what we had become accustomed to. We used to think of it as religious social conservatism, mainly about accommodating certain social values. But what we are dealing with now is a highly organised, strategic political movement with clear ambitions to gain access to power and reshape society.

That is what we need to understand about this ‘next wave’. It is no longer the past anti-abortion activism. It is a political project that is pushing societies towards de-democratisation.

Continued: https://www.ips-journal.eu/interviews/these-are-no-longer-amateurs-with-billboards-9063/

USA – They Came for Mifepristone. The Abortion Rights Movement Is Ready.

As the abortion pill heads back to the Supreme Court, advocates have a backup that’s effective and safe: misoprostol alone.

Nina Martin, Mother Jones
May 7, 2026

Medication abortion is back at the US Supreme Court—which is exactly where abortion opponents want it. Last week, in a late Friday afternoon move guaranteed to stoke maximum confusion and panic, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a Food and Drug Administration rule allowing telemedicine prescription of mifepristone, one of two drugs that make up the gold-standard abortion-pill regimen. On Monday morning, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito put that ruling on pause until May 11.

But even as abortion advocates expressed relief that telemedicine abortions can continue for a few more days, the order by Alito—the same ultraconservative who wrote the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022—was at best a reprieve. At some point soon, the court’s right-wing supermajority could drastically curtail or cut off access by mail to an extremely safe and effective drug that has been used by hundreds of thousands of women a year since Dobbs, including in states where abortion is banned. Almost two-thirds of abortions in the US now happen with pills, and nearly 30 percent occur by telemedicine.

Continued; https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/they-came-for-mifepristone-the-abortion-rights-movement-is-ready/

Progress and Limitations of the “My Voice, My Choice” Initiative: An Interview with Clara Serra Baiget

April 2, 2026

In Europe, more than 20 million women still do not have guaranteed access to safe abortion. This reality puts their physical health at risk and imposes disproportionate economic and emotional burdens, especially on those who are already in vulnerable situations.

It is in this context that the European citizens’ initiative “My Voice, My Choice” has emerged—a movement seeking to transform access to abortion in the European Union (EU). We spoke with Clara, a senior lawyer at Women’s Link, to understand what this initiative proposes, what progress it has made so far, and what its limitations are.

Continued: https://womenslinkworldwide.org/en/progress-and-limitations-of-the-my-voice-my-choice-initiative-an-interview-with-clara-serra-baiget/

02.04.2026

Interviews/Podcasts

Clara Serra Baiget

European Citizens’ Initiatives

European Union

My Voice My Choice campaign

Women's Link Worldwide

Europe

Activism

Human Rights

Could a registry of doctors who refuse abortions improve access in Spain?

By Léa Marchal, Brussels
13 March 2026
Podcast – 6 minutes, with transcript

In Spain, abortion is back in the political and legal spotlight.

A court ruling has just ordered the city of Madrid to create a registry of conscientious objectors. These are doctors in the region who refuse to perform abortion procedures.

Continued: https://euobserver.com/206829/listen-could-a-registry-of-doctors-who-refuse-abortions-improve-access-in-spain/

13.03.2026

Interviews/Podcasts

belief-based care denial

conscientious objection

conscientious objectors

European Social Fund Plus

Isabel Díaz Ayuso

registry of conscientious objectors

Europe

Spain

Human Rights

Three abortion rights defenders share their stories of hope

Amnesty International
By Cécile Yougbare, SRHR activist with Médecins du Monde, Kinga Jelińska, activist from Poland and Erin Grant, Abortion Care Network Co-Executive Director 
10 March 2026

Across the world, governments and other actors are rolling back on decades of progress on gender equality, including access to abortion. But people are fighting back, determined to protect the rights so many have fought so hard to achieve.   

As the Commission on the Status of Women holds its 70th session, three courageous human rights defenders from Burkina Faso, Poland and the United States share their strategies to protect access to abortion, their hopes for the future and the reasons why they believe that, despite the many increasing challenges, humanity must always win.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/03/three-abortion-rights-defenders-share-their-stories-of-hope

Tunisia – “My message is: keep going, there’s no other way”

By Selma Hajri, doctor and human rights defender from Tunisia.
5 March 2026
Amnesty International

Ahead of International Women’s Day, we spoke with five courageous activists from Tunisia, Mexico, Burkina Faso, Poland and the United States who shared their strategies to protect access to abortion, their hopes for the future and the reasons why they believe that, despite the many increasing challenges, humanity must always win.

My name is Selma Hajri, I’m 71 and I am Tunisian. I am a doctor and a feminist. About fifteen years ago, I was the founder of an association dedicated to sexual and reproductive rights: the TAWHIDA Ben Cheikh Group. I am an endocrinologist specialising in reproductive health, and I am still the General Secretary of this association.

A few years ago, I created a regional network of activists and health professionals for abortion rights and access. This network focuses on the southern Mediterranean region, but with a view to exchange experiences with the northern mediterranean region more. I am very proud because it is the first and only network in this region that directly addresses abortion rights.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2026/03/my-message-is-keep-going-theres-no-other-way/

05.03.2026

Interviews/Podcasts

Amnesty International

Selma Hajri

TAWHIDA Ben Cheikh Group

What Shapes Abortion Attitudes Around the World

Professor Amy Adamczyk discusses why where you live can change how you see abortion on “The Thought Project” podcast.

February 26, 2026
Podcast: 46 minutes

Abortion attitudes can look deeply personal, but sociologist Amy Adamczyk’s research suggests they are also powerfully shaped by the places we live.

On this episode of The Thought Project, host Tanya Domi speaks with Adamczyk, a professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center and John Jay College, about her award-winning book Fetal Positions: Understanding the Cross-National Public Opinion About Abortion. Drawing on survey data from over 200,000 people across 88 societies, plus interviews in the United States and China, Adamczyk unpacks why views about abortion vary so widely and why national context, especially religiosity and gender equality, can influence people’s attitudes even when their personal beliefs do not. She also discusses what is shifting in the U.S. after Dobbs, how China’s one-child policy still echoes in public opinion, and what her findings suggest about access, agency, and the future of reproductive rights.

Continued: https://www.gc.cuny.edu/news/what-shapes-abortion-attitudes-around-world

26.02.2026

Interviews/Podcasts

Amy Adamczyk

public opinion on abortion

Listen: Can Brussels ensure safe abortion for women everywhere in the EU?

By Léa Marchal
2 February 2026
Podcast – 5:26 mins with transcript

Abortion bans pushed Polish women to seek risky or costly alternatives. Now the EU faces a showdown: can a new solidarity fund guarantee safe access across borders, or will politics block women’s rights again?

EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Long Story Short” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.

Continued: https://euobserver.com/201035/listen-can-brussels-ensure-safe-abortion-for-women-everywhere-in-the-eu/

02.02.2026

My Voice My Choice campaign

Q&A: What next for humanitarians and the global gag rule?

“There’s an earthquake. There’s somebody who’s been raped. You need to help the people, not check their credentials on the global gag.”

2 February 2026
Irwin Loy

Chaos, confusion, and more ethical dilemmas: Humanitarians are still trying to understand the impacts of a sweeping expansion to the so-called “global gag rule” on US funding.

The Trump administration expanded the on-again, off-again anti-abortion care directive known as the Mexico City policy to include nearly all foreign assistance, including humanitarian funding sent through UN agencies and international and local aid groups. The rules – announced on 23 January and published last week – also slap vague bans on programmes related to diversity and equity, and gender identity.

Continued: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/interview/2026/02/02/qa-what-next-humanitarians-and-global-gag-rule

02.02.2026