By Julie Turkewitz and Isayen Herrera, New York Times
February 20, 2021
SAN DIEGO DE LOS ALTOS, Venezuela — The moment Johanna Guzmán, 25, discovered she was going to have her sixth child, she began to sob, crushed by the idea of bringing another life into a nation in such decay.
For years, as Venezuela spiraled deeper into an economic crisis, she and her husband had scoured clinics and pharmacies for any kind of birth control, usually in vain. They had a third child. A fourth. A fifth.
February 19, 2021
By Carole Concha Bell
Abortion campaigners in Chile have been heartened by the recent legalization of abortion in neighboring Argentina and are currently presenting a bill for the decriminalization of abortion. But with a pro-life government and Senate inherited from the Pinochet regime (1973-90) any amendments to the existing law will be hard won.
Chile has one of the world’s most draconian abortion laws in the world. Dictator General Augusto Pinochet’s last act before leaving office in 1989 was to completely outlaw abortion and make it a punishable crime. It was not until 2017 that President Michelle Bachelet’s administration was able to amend the law to allow abortion in extreme cases. But women’s reproductive rights have come under attack again by far-right President Sebastian Pinera’s cabinet. In 2019 Pinera introduced an amendment allowing entire (private) hospitals and medical professionals to object to the procedure on grounds of “conscience.”
Continued: https://towardfreedom.org/americas-2/chiles-feminists-push-to-decriminalize-abortion/
February 14, 2021
By Kate Chappell (IPS)
HAVANA TIMES – It was a joyful, tearful celebration in the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 2020 for countless Argentinians when they heard the news: the senate had legalized terminations up to 14 weeks of pregnancy. Prior to this, activists have said that more than 3,000 women died of botched, illegal abortions since 1983. And across the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, this renewed sense of optimism was compounded after President Joe Biden rescinded what is known as the “global gag rule,” which essentially denied funding to international non-profit organizations that provided abortion counseling or referrals.
Now, women and campaigners across LAC are hopeful that these developments will spur lawmakers to consider decriminalizing abortion in their countries, sparing women their lives, economic well-being, dignity and access to a range of options to make the best choice for their reproductive and overall health.
Continued: https://havanatimes.org/features/argentinas-abortion-legislation-sparks-hope-in-caribbean/
Legalization of early-term abortion celebrated by pro-choice activists and decried by pro-life activists
Bala Chambers
02.02.2021
On Dec. 30 last year, Argentina's Congress voted to legalize elective abortion in the first 14 weeks of gestation as the Senate backed the bill two years after rejecting a similar one.
Pro-choice activists welcomed the decision while pro-life sectors decried it.
Continued: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/argentina-s-implementation-of-abortion-law-still-murky/2131149
2/2/2021
by CORA FERNÁNDEZ ANDERSON
On Dec. 29, 2020, Argentina legalized abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy—becoming the third country in Latin America (after Cuba and Uruguay) to do so. This landmark victory was the result of many years of arduous activist work to raise awareness of the harm that comes with the criminalization of abortion.
In 2005, the women’s movement launched the Campaign for Safe, Free and Legal Abortion (La Campaña Nacional por el Derecho al Aborto Legal Seguro y Gratuito), which grew more powerful, reaching massive support across the country in the past three years. From there, activists drafted a bill and sought the support of legislators to advance abortion reform in Congress. In 2018, the campaign’s bill was discussed in Congress for the first time. It passed in the Lower Chamber but was rejected in the Senate by a vote of 38-31.
By restoring funding cut off by his predecessor, President Biden ended four years of what abortion rights advocates called a concerted assault on women’s reproductive health in the developing world.
By Bhadra Sharma, Ruth Maclean, Oscar Lopez and Rick Gladstone
New York Times
Jan. 29, 2021
KATHMANDU, Nepal — When President Donald J. Trump scrapped tens of millions of dollars in aid to women’s health care providers around the world four years ago, the Family Planning Association of Nepal was forced to dismiss more than 200 people and close clinics in at least four parts of the country, one of Asia’s poorest.
Family planning education and birth-control distribution slowed or stopped in Nepal, which relies heavily on American financial assistance for public health programs. While abortion is legal in the country, the options for safe procedures were abruptly narrowed.
Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/world/asia/gag-rule-abortion.html
Press release, 25 January 2021: for immediate publication
Somos Muchas
After the decision by the Argentine Congress on 29 December 2020 to legalise abortion for both public health reasons and in support of women’s rights, everyone is waiting to see what the rest of Latin America will do. Responses from Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica – and now Honduras – have already become public. The response from the Congress of Honduras is bad news for all women and girls in the country and in the region – it shows a complete disregard for Honduran women’s health and lives. Yet ironically, it is due to be ratified on Honduran Women’s Day without consultation and with undue haste.
In every country in Latin America, there is a strong women’s movement that has been calling for safe and legal abortion for many years. Although legal reform has been slow, due to the powerful influence of conservative religious and political forces, many changes have still taken place.
Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/press-release-somos-muchas?e=372dd34034
BY ALMUDENA CALATRAVA, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted Jan 23, 2021
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s groundbreaking abortion law goes into force Sunday under the watchful eyes of women’s groups and government officials, who hope to ensure its full implementation despite opposition from some conservative and church groups.
Argentina became the largest nation in Latin
America to legalize elective abortion after its Senate on Dec. 30 passed a law
guaranteeing the procedure up to the 14th week of pregnancy and beyond that in
cases of rape or when a woman’s health is at risk.
Continued: https://www.citynews1130.com/2021/01/23/argentinas-abortion-law-enters-force-under-watchful-eyes/
Abortion rights advocates focused on public health consequences of prohibition and disproportionate impact on women in poverty
By Taylor Boas, Mariela Daby, Mason Moseley and Amy Erica Smith
Jan. 18, 2021
Early on Dec. 30, Argentina became only the second democratic country in Latin America to legalize abortion. The Senate’s 38-to-29 vote on a bill passed by the legislature’s lower house was celebrated by masses of green-clad activists in the streets of Buenos Aires. In recent years, these activists have been mobilizing in larger and larger numbers for reproductive rights.
Abortion legalization failed in 2018. What changed?
In 2018, a similar bill was passed by Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies but came up short in the Senate. By 2020, advocates for legalization had President Alberto Fernández on their side; Fernández had defeated antiabortion incumbent President Mauricio Macri in 2019.
Argentina becomes largest Latin American nation to allow legal abortions alongside Cuba, Uruguay, Guyana, parts of Mexico
Bala Chambers
15.01.2021
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez signed an abortion bill into law Thursday, allowing terminations in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
The event was held at the Museo del Bicentenario de la Casa Rosada in the nation's capital, Buenos Aires, and attended by government officials and activists, some of whom waved green handkerchiefs which have become synonymous with the feminist pro-choice movement.
Continued: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/argentine-president-signs-abortion-bill-into-law/2110580
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