Greece – An Abortion Hidden from Parental View in “Memoir of a Veering Storm”

In Sofia Georgovassili’s short film, drawn from life, a teen-ager and her friends go on a pivotal excursion in the course of a school day.

Film by Sofia Georgovassili
Text by Helena Ong
February 17, 2023
Film: 13:48 minutes

[From YouTube description]  It is a morning in September and a storm is coming. A mother takes her daughter to school in the morning, unaware that she will be a young woman when she comes back home in the evening. Fifteen-year-old Anna sneaks out of school and goes to a hospital. There, she is faced with an event that will close the door on her childhood forever.

What happens to a young woman’s psyche when she experiences an abortion while all surrounding social structures see her as a child? Greek director Sofia Georgovassili’s melancholy short film, which has screened at many festivals including the Berlinale Generation competition, reveals the world that the film’s protagonist is confronted with through minute details, touches, light pulsations, and mythology.

Film available at:  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/screening-room/an-abortion-hidden-from-parental-view-in-memoir-of-a-veering-storm


Greece – ND distances itself from MEP’s vote on abortion rights

16.03.2021
ekathimerini.com

Greece’s ruling party distanced itself from one of its MEPs on Tuesday over his vote against women’s right to abortion in a motion submitted at the European Parliament last week, saying that his views “do not express those of the party or its leader.”

New Democracy’s Stelios Kympouropoulos approved a proposed amendment submitted by the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), which stated that “every human being has the inherent right to life and that the human life of the child must always be protected, starting from the moment of conception.”

Continued: https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1157192/nd-distances-itself-from-mep-s-vote-on-abortion-rights/


Greece – Gender equality body backs decision to remove anti-abortion posters from metro

Gender equality body backs decision to remove anti-abortion posters from metro

Jan 14, 2019

Greece’s general secretariat for gender equality said on Tuesday it agreed with a decision by the Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis to remove anti-abortion posters from metro stations in Athens on Monday.

“Informing the public and public awareness must be based on respect, objectivity and responsibility,” Maria Syrengela said in a statement, adding that women’s legal access to abortion is “unquestionable”.

Continued: http://www.ekathimerini.com/248400/article/ekathimerini/news/gender-equality-body-backs-decision-to-remove-anti-abortion-posters-from-metro


Athens metro advertises anti-abortion campaign

Athens metro advertises anti-abortion campaign

By Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV network and EURACTIV.com
Jan 13, 2020

An anti-abortion campaign poster displayed in the Athens metro has triggered a strong reaction from the government, which forced the transportation company to immediately remove it.

On Monday (13 January), social media in Greece were flooded with pictures from the subway.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/health-consumers/news/athens-metro-advertises-anti-abortion-campaign/


How to make abortion rarer

How to make abortion rarer
Bans and restrictions do not work. Superior birth control does
Dec 3rd 2016 | ATHENS AND SEOUL

ABORTION, says Theodora, a Greek civil servant, was “an absolute necessity” when she became pregnant last year. Her husband had lost his job and money was too tight for a third child. The procedure, at a private clinic, was “efficient”; she was in and out in three hours. Hers was a typical experience for a middle-class Athenian woman. It is not uncommon for one to have four or five abortions, says a gynaecologist in Athens. In Greece abortion is seen as an ordinary form of birth control.

Most modern contraceptives, however, are not viewed that way. More than half of married Greek women use none at all. Withdrawal and condoms are the methods of choice for most couples who are trying not to have a baby—even medical students, who should know that these fail about a fifth of couples who rely on them for a year. Greeks commonly believe that the pill and other hormonal contraceptives cause infertility and cancer. They also distrust intrauterine devices (IUDs), possibly because they have been taught that tampons are unhealthy.

[continued at link]
Source: The Economist