Care and compassion over colonialism: Namibia must protect women and girls seeking abortions

By Marie-Evelyne Petrus Barry and Bience Gawanas
21 Oct 2021

Namibia’s parliament is debating reforms to the abortion law that would bring the country in line with international standards on sexual and reproductive health rights. Activists, medical doctors and public health experts are urging lawmakers to ensure that ‘every pregnancy in Namibia should be a wanted pregnancy’.

This past week, we have watched with great interest and hope as Namibia’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Social Development and Family Affairs held its first four days of public hearings on whether to reform its Abortion and Sterilisation Act of 1975.

Continued: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-10-21-care-and-compassion-over-colonialism-namibia-must-protect-women-and-girls-seeking-abortions/

The courts have a new chance to block Texas’s abortion law. They must take it

SB 8 not only stripped Texan women of their rights under Roe v Wade, it made a mockery of the US constitution and the supremacy of the federal courts

Laurence H Tribe, Erwin Chemerinsky, Jeffrey Abramson and Dennis Aftergut
Sun 17 Oct 2021

Sadly, predictably and appallingly, on October 14, a three judge panel of the US court of appeals for the fifth circuit has allowed Texas’s “Bounty-Hunter” anti-abortion law to go back into effect while the court considers the case on the merits. Every day that the fifth circuit panel’s unlawful order keeps the statute in operation brings irreversible injury to women in Texas. US Attorney General Merrick Garland has properly decided to seek emergency relief from the US supreme court.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/17/texas-abortion-law-courts-us-constitution

17.10.2021

Texas, Harbinger of Doom

Oct. 13, 2021
By Charles M. Blow

When Jim Crow was originally established, it
spread from state to state like a contagion, each subsequent state taking
lessons from the ones before it.

Mississippi was one of the states at the vanguard of the first Jim Crow; Texas
may well be at the vanguard of the next. And the oppressive crusade is broader
than race. It includes gender and identity.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/opinion/texas-abortion-voting-transphobia.html

This Is How You Smack Down Texas’s Abortion Ban

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Texas suspended SB 8. His ruling offers a step-by-step legal guide to striking down the law for good.

By Elie Mystal Oct 8, 2021

It is difficult to explain the extent to which Texas’s Senate Bill 8—which bans abortions after six weeks of gestation and empowers private bounty hunters to sue anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion—is unconstitutional and lawless. Even calling the law “unconstitutional” is like calling the Marianas Trench “deep”: It’s true, but it fails to capture the abysmal quality of the thing. I feel I lack the vocabulary to describe how bad SB 8 is, but US District Judge Robert Pitman gave it a try. On Wednesday, he ordered a temporary injunction suspending enforcement of SB 8 and dedicated 113 pages to explaining why.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/texas-abortion-ban-block/

I’m an abortion doctor in Texas. My patients are desperate

Just as predicted, poor women and victims of sexual assault and abuse are suffering most under Texas’s draconian new law

Wed 6 Oct 2021
Samuel Dickman

I’m a Texas abortion provider. Since the state’s new anti-abortion law – known as Senate Bill 8 – went into effect three weeks ago, my job transformed from physician to dystopian travel agent for a journey that, for most of my patients, will probably never happen.

SB8 is not just a set of roadblocks but rather a near-total ban on abortion. Politicians have rendered abortion care impossible to access for people who can’t afford to travel hundreds of miles out of state. Many of those who can’t get an abortion will be pushed deeper into poverty as a result.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/06/im-an-abortion-doctor-in-texas-my-patients-are-desperate

06.10.2021

traveling for abortion

Women’s Health Protection Act

Rwanda – Women’s rights are human rights: the right to autonomy and self-determination

By Brenda Mutoni
September 30, 2021

Worldwide, women enjoy 25% fewer legal rights than men. Millions of women around the world are not able to make decisions about their own bodies.

According to research published in September 2021 by UNFPA titled “My body is my own. Claiming the right to autonomy and self-determination”, just over half of women and girls in middle- and low-income countries have the right to decide for themselves whether they have sex, use contraception or seek medical care. In some sub-Saharan countries, the figure is even below 10%.

Continued: https://www.newtimes.co.rw/opinions/womes-rights-are-human-rights-right-autonomy-and-self-determination

Opinion – Only women have abortions

Womanhood is a question of material reality, not identity.

Ann Furedi
30th September 2021

Following a barrage of criticism, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has apologised for revising an iconic speech by the late Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to fit with today’s woke-speak.

At RBG’s confirmation hearing in 1993, a time when anti-choice activism was rife in the US, she was asked about her position on abortion. She did not mince her words:

Continued: https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/09/30/only-women-have-abortions/

30.09.2021

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Global

The Texas abortion law is a human rights crisis for American women

Opinion by Uma Thurman
Sept 21, 2021

I have followed the course of Texas’s radical antiabortion law with great sadness, and something akin to horror. Now, in the hope of drawing the flames of controversy away from the vulnerable women on whom this law will have an immediate effect, I am sharing my own experience. You might not be interested in the opinions of an actress, but given this new outrage, I feel it is my responsibility to stand up in their shoes.

I started my acting career at 15, working in an environment where I was often the only kid in the room. In my late teens, I was accidentally impregnated by a much older man. I was living out of a suitcase in Europe, far from my family, and about to start a job. I struggled to figure out what to do. I wanted to keep the baby, but how?

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/21/uma-thurman-abortion-law-texas/

21.09.2021

women's abortion stories

Nigeria – Need for access to sexual, reproductive healthcare services for women, girls

September 20, 2021
By Nnamdi Eseme, The Nation

Sexual and reproductive healthcare worldwide is rapidly evolving with progress being made on adolescent sexual and reproductive health however, Nigeria’s healthcare sector is still running behind to meet up. In this letter, we discuss some areas where Nigeria is lagging and hopes it serves as a call to action to improve sexual and reproductive healthcare especially of young people, women and girls in the country.

Nigeria in recent times has seen her population growing massively with world experts predicting that by 2050, the country will become one of the most populous in the world. This is despite the many challenges she grapples with including poor health, unemployment, insecurity, poverty, among others. Accessing quality healthcare is a major problem in the country and for many women and girls, healthcare includes abortion services.

Continued: https://thenationonlineng.net/need-for-access-to-sexual-reproductive-healthcare-services-for-women-girls/

How Texas Has Made My Job of Helping Women More Dangerous

Sept. 20, 2021
By Ghazaleh Moayedi

It’s not brave for me to be an abortion provider in Texas. This is my home, too. I have a lot of support from my community. I work at several types of clinics here and in Oklahoma — independent ones, mostly. I went to medical school with the express intent to provide abortions in my home state.

We were shut down in Texas before, when Covid first hit the state in March of last year and Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order suspending “all surgeries and procedures that are not immediately medically necessary.” At first, we weren’t sure how it was going to be interpreted. I spent that Monday calling all the patients I could, telling them to come in immediately to get an ultrasound in the event I would be able to at least give them pills the next day.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/opinion/texas-abortion-provider.html