May 17, 2022
PATRICK ADAMS, NPR
Ukrainian women who were raped by Russian soldiers are among the millions of refugees who have fled to Poland.
And they now find themselves in a country that severely restricts access to reproductive health care, including both contraception and abortion.
Women turn to aid groups for help, with many unaware their rights to reproductive healthcare have vanished upon crossing the border
Weronika Strzyżyńska
Tue 10 May 2022
When the first Russian bombs fell on Ukraine, Myroslava Marchenko was a gynaecologist at a private clinic in Kyiv. The next day, one of her patients was due to have an abortion after prenatal tests showed a high chance of Down’s syndrome.
Instead, like millions across the country, Marchenko and her patient fled to safety, crossing the border into Poland where abortions due to foetal abnormalities – or “on eugenic grounds” in the language of the country’s constitutional tribunal – are illegal.
By Annabel Rackham, BBC News
Apr 29, 2022
Charities are working to deliver emergency contraception into Ukrainian hospitals as reports of rape rise.
Nearly 3,000 packets of morning-after pills have been sent to areas of the country most affected by the Russian invasion.
The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has provided the pills, which volunteers are delivering.
Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-61269792
4/27/2022
by CHRISTINE RYAN
Seeking protection from Russian bombing and shelling amidst a siege of their city, thousands of civilians in Bucha bunkered down in subways and basements. But for some, the reprieve from artillery was not enough. For women and girls, there was no shelter from the sexual violence inflicted by Russian soldiers.
Rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy are among the war crimes reportedly suffered by women and girls in Bucha and in wider Ukraine. Yet, the cruelty endured by these victims does not end there. Thanks to U.S. policy, abortion may be unavailable to these women and girls.
Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2022/04/27/ukraine-war-rape-helms-amendment/
Ukrainian women fleeing the war are at risk of sexual violence, rape, and trafficking and those who are pregnant as a result cannot get an abortion in Poland due to one of Europe’s strictest anti-abortion laws.
By Giedre Peseckyte | EURACTIV.com
Apr 27, 2022
During the first days of the war, a 29-year-old Ukrainian woman fled the country with her two children. After about a week of travelling, she crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border, having never visited before and not speaking the language. As she travelled at night, by the side of the road, she saw groups of men holding signs with the name of Polish cities written on them in Cyrillic.
“You might have heard the great solidarity from the Polish people, and you might be tempted to get into one of the cars parked on the side of the road before the laws were passed and before drivers were registered,” said Anna Dąbrowska, president of Homo Faber, a Polish human rights organisation, during a speech to LIBE and FEMM parliamentarians on 21 April.
Tuesday, 19 April 2022
By Liv Klingert
The controversial debate on abortion in Poland has been reignited following the arrival of Ukrainian women refugees who have been victims of sexual violence by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Under current restrictive abortion laws, it is uncertain whether women who become pregnant through rape and seek refuge in Poland can still have legal and safe abortions there, De Standaard reported.
Continued: https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/218090/ukrainian-refugees-ignite-abortion-debate-in-poland
Abortion and rights groups have told i that Ukrainian women raped during the war have been unable to access terminations
By Isabella Bengoechea, Alannah Francis
April 16, 2022
Pregnant Ukrainian refugees including victims of rape who fled to Poland are struggling to access abortions.
Abortion providers and civil society groups have warned that women who have escaped from Ukraine are being denied terminations under Poland’s near-total ban on the procedure.
‘It is imperative that European governments ensure that their humanitarian assistance prioritises the sexual and reproductive health and human rights of women and girls,’ says campaigner
Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent
Friday 18 March 2022
Abortions and contraception must be provided to women escaping Ukraine and their reproductive health must be safeguarded, campaigners on the ground have warned.
More than 60 organisations, including Amnesty International and local groups in the region, voiced “grave concern” over the situation unfolding for women in Ukraine but also displaced women forced to flee to Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Moldova, and Romania.
AFP
Published Monday, October 26, 2020
KYIV, UKRAINE -- A member of radical feminist group Femen staged a naked protest outside the Polish embassy in Kyiv on Monday against a near-total ban on abortion in the EU country.
The English words "My body is my
choice" were scrawled on her torso. She held coat hangers in her mouth, a
protest symbol representing illegal abortions.
Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/ukraine-activist-in-nude-protest-against-polish-abortion-ban-1.5160801
EASTERN EUROPE / CENTRAL ASIA – Regional Conference on Bringing the WHO Recommendations on Safe Abortion and Family Planning Closer to Women in Countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia
by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
December 18, 2018
Chisinau, Moldova, 15-16 November 2018
Organised by the Reproductive Health Training Centre, Moldova, with support from the Safe Abortion Action Fund
There were 65 participants. The meeting was in Russian with simultaneous translation in English. Participants included health professionals, health policymakers and NGO representatives from 11 counties in the region – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Russia.
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