Getting an abortion on Guam requires a $1,000, eight-hour flight. A lawsuit could change that

The ACLU is suing the US territory over restrictive laws that block people from accessing telemedicine medication abortions

Michelle Broder Van Dyke in Honolulu
Mon 22 Feb 2021

Getting an abortion on Guam, a remote US territory in the Pacific Ocean, has never been simple. Before 2016 there were only two abortion doctors on the entire island, and anti-abortion protesters would often stand outside their clinics with signs.

But since 2018, it has been impossible. That year Guam lost its last abortion provider when Dr William Freeman retired and moved away, and the doctor who took over refused to conduct them. This means that the closest US abortion clinic is now in Hawaiʻi, an eight-hour and $1,000 flight away. The number of abortions on Guam dropped from more than 200 a year in 2017 to zero.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/22/guam-abortions-aclu-lawsuit

Abortion decriminalisation bill passes Lower House after heated debate in SA Parliament

By Natarsha Kallios
Feb 18, 2021

A historic bill to decriminalise abortion in South Australia has passed the State Parliament's Lower House, following a heated and lengthy debate.

Members of Parliament were granted a conscience vote on the bill, which moves abortion from the Criminal Law Consolidation Act and into healthcare legislation.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-19/abortion-law-reform-passes-lower-house-in-sa-parliament/13169600

18.02.2021

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abortion law reform

Criminal Law Consolidation Act

David Speirs

decriminalisation of abortion

Abortion decriminalisation bill debated in SA Parliament after weeks of community discussion

By Mahalia Carter
Feb 15, 2021

Debate has begun in South Australia's Lower House on proposed reforms to abortion laws, after legislation passed through the Upper House last year.

The Termination of Pregnancy Bill aims to shift abortion out of the criminal code and into healthcare legislation.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-16/abortion-decriminalisation-bill-debated-in-sa-parliament/13158608

15.02.2021

decriminalisation of abortion

Katrine Hildyard

Stephan Knoll

Susan Close

Termination of Pregnancy Bill

Lack of South Auckland abortion services ‘unacceptable’

Local abortion services remain unavailable to people living in much of the sprawling South Auckland area - which has a population of close to 600,000 and encapsulates some of the most deprived suburbs of New Zealand - despite the issue being repeatedly raised for more than 12 years.

21 December 2020
Susan Strongman

People living within the Counties Manukau District Health Board (DHB) catchment who need an abortion must travel to the affluent central Auckland suburb of Greenlane. Experts say this creates an access barrier for South Auckland women.

Financial barriers created by the lack of a local service can include the cost of travel, childcare and taking time off work. For people living in Counties Manukau, where the population is younger, and more deprived than elsewhere in New Zealand, those costs can be significant. The area is also home to a high number of Pacific peoples, of whom 64 percent are 'highly deprived', according to Health Ministry data. The Counties Manukau DHB describes Pacific peoples' engagement with and access to health services when they need them as being "a challenge".

Continued: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/433305/lack-of-south-auckland-abortion-services-unacceptable

New Zealand – Abortion Care: Equity Not Improving Fast Enough

Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Press Release: ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa notes with disappointment that the Ministry of Health survey shows improvements to abortion care have not reached all DHBs.

While delays for early medical and surgical abortions have shortened in some DHBs, others still do not offer abortion care at all. Different DHBs do not provide medical abortions, or telemedicine, or abortions post 20 weeks gestation.

Continued: https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE2012/S00067/abortion-care-equity-not-improving-fast-enough.htm

16.12.2020

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ARLANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa

New Zealand – Abortion access improves with law reform, but inequity still significant — Health Ministry

The Associate Health Minister says she's watching district health boards "very closely" after a survey found variations in abortion services offered across the country.

Dec 15, 2020
By Susan Strongman

It's been more than eight months since abortion law reform came into force, yet the Ministry of Health survey found in some parts of New Zealand early medical abortions - where two pills are taken to induce a miscarriage within the first nine weeks of pregnancy - are not locally available at all.

It also found significant differences in later gestation abortion services offered across DHBs, meaning it's harder form some people to access the procedure because of where they live.

Continued: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/abortion-access-improves-law-reform-but-inequity-still-significant-health-ministry

British pro-life group propagates viral misinformation about New Zealand’s abortion laws

AFP New Zealand, Taylor Thompson Fuller
Published on Monday 30 November 2020

A video posted by a British pro-life group on Facebook that contains multiple misleading claims about New Zealand’s abortion laws has been viewed tens of thousands of times. The video includes a false suggestion that abortion in New Zealand is “available on-demand, for any reason, up to birth”. Similar claims were published in multiple other anti-abortion posts shared in the United States.

The video was published by Right To Life UK here on Facebook on October 14, where it has been viewed more than 120,000 times.

Continued: https://factcheck.afp.com/british-pro-life-group-propagates-viral-misinformation-about-new-zealands-abortion-laws

Protesting outside SA abortion clinics has been outlawed as new laws pass Parliament

Nov 11, 2020

Protesting outside South Australian abortion clinics has been outlawed after new laws passed the Upper House in State Parliament late last night.

The bill, which was passed about 10:00pm on Wednesday, makes it an offence to protest within 150 metres of an abortion clinic.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-12/protesting-outside-abortion-clinics-outlawed-in-south-australia/12874852

Women who require late-term abortions are being demonised in Australia – again

As South Australia debates a bill to decriminalise abortion, the same misinformation is being peddled

Gina Rushton
Thu 29 Oct 2020

It wouldn’t be a debate about abortion without a flagrant misinformation campaign about terminations after the first trimester.

A bill to decriminalise abortion was this month introduced in South Australia, the last jurisdiction to do so, and opponents of the legislation have already set about claiming if passed it would legalise and in fact encourage “abortion up to birth”, an offensive but ultimately meaningless phrase. It has been the relentless catchphrase of anti-abortion lobbyists, religious leaders and conservative politicians in every single push to modernise abortion laws in this country but it is not uniquely Australian.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/29/women-who-require-late-term-abortions-are-being-demonised-in-australia-again

LNP senator and Broncos chairman back Queensland anti-abortion campaign containing ‘baseless’ claims

Exclusive: claims made in campaign material by rightwing lobby group Cherish Life about abortion laws are labelled ‘disinformation’

Ben Smee
Fri 16 Oct 2020

The Liberal National party senator Gerard Rennick and the Brisbane Broncos chairman, Karl Morris, are among the financial backers of a prominent anti-abortion “disinformation” campaign targeting marginal seats ahead of the Queensland election.

Billboards, leaflets and advertisements authorised by the lobby group, Cherish Life, include provocative statements about Queensland’s abortion laws that have repeatedly been found to be baseless.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/16/lnp-senator-and-broncos-chairman-back-queensland-anti-abortion-campaign-containing-baseless-claims