Canadian abortion group says it may have to shutter after losing government funding

Hannah Alberga, The Canadian Press
Jan 28, 2025

A national group that helps people who have trouble accessing abortion services says it may be forced to shut down in several months after Health Canada declined to renew its funding for the upcoming year.

Abortion Care Canada says it had sought $1.3 million from the federal government's Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund for the next fiscal year but will get nothing, despite having received about $2.2 million in total since the fund was established in 2021.

Continued: https://www.timescolonist.com/health/canadian-abortion-group-says-it-may-have-to-shutter-after-losing-government-funding-10144887

Trump’s global gag rule on abortion care will damage women’s health, rights, and futures

We must act to safeguard reproductive healthcare and forge a path less reliant on US assistance, says Carole Sekimpi

BMJ 2025; 388 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r173 (Published 27 January 2025)
Carole Sekimpi, Africa director, MSI Reproductive Choices

As president of the United States, Donald Trump has the power to affect lives and healthcare well beyond his country’s borders. Since Trump returned to power this month, his reinstatement of the “global gag rule”12 has triggered the end of funding for any non-US based global health and development organisation that provides or advocates abortion care.

As the single largest funder of international aid, the US plays a powerful role in shaping the global health landscape—and women’s and girls’ lives are being used as pawns in this political game. My work overseeing reproductive health programmes in Africa for MSI Reproductive Choices gives me an understanding of the profound consequences that this will have on communities that Trump will never set foot in.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r173

27.01.2025

MSI Reproductive Choices

Madagascar – Don’t the Lives of Women and Girls Matter?

Jan. 11, 2025
By Nicholas Kristof - Opinion Columnist, reporting from Madagascar

When he returns to the White House, President-elect Trump is widely expected to slash funding for women’s health organizations around the world, and people on the left and the right alike are focused on what that means for abortions.

But the impact of any Trump cuts would go far, far beyond abortions, and would probably be devastating to millions of women and girls worldwide. Trump’s approach would reduce the availability of contraception and likely increase maternal mortality and cervical cancer.

Continued : https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/11/opinion/columnists/family-planning-women.html

12.01.2025

Election results show ‘urgency’ to get abortion funding at EU level, advocates say

By Lauren Chadwick
June 11, 2024

Women's rights campaigners say a surge in support for the far-right in Europe has made efforts to fund abortion at the EU level even more urgent than before.

Campaigners working to get a funding mechanism for abortion at a European level say the election results have made the effort even more urgent than before.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/health/2024/06/11/election-results-show-urgency-to-get-abortion-funding-at-eu-level-advocates-say

11.06.2024

My Voice My Choice campaign

Europe

Human Rights

Politics

Will the world abort women’s rights after death of Roe v. Wade?

BY ELLEN WULFHORST, THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
Nov 24, 2022

PATTAYA CITY, THAILAND – Women and girls around the world will suffer a knock-on effect from the U.S. decision to roll back abortion rights, experts say, predicting a global clampdown on hard-won female freedoms.

From access to abortion to voting rights, equal pay to equal status, women from Africa to Asia to Europe are expected to feel the fallout of the U.S. decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/11/24/world/women-rights-abortion/

BY ELLEN WULFHORST, THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
Nov 24, 2022

From access to abortion to voting rights, equal pay to equal status, women from Africa to Asia to Europe are expected to feel the fallout of the U.S. decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/11/24/world/women-rights-abortion/

Biden urged to clarify that abortion aid abroad unaffected by Roe v Wade ruling

Senators also seek to correct misinterpretation by aid recipients of Helms amendment as a blanket ban on US funds for abortion

Noa Yachot
Fri 12 Aug 2022

Supporters of reproductive rights in Congress are calling on the government to clarify to foreign aid recipients that the end of abortion rights in the US does not affect US-funded family planning programs abroad, and to limit the damage of a half-century-old law that has functioned as a blanket ban that prevents US aid from supporting abortion care overseas.

Their efforts come as the Biden administration looks for ways to support abortion rights in the wake of the supreme court decision overturning Roe v Wade – which scrapped abortion rights – and amid signs that abortion rights could be a persuasive issue in midterm elections.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/12/foregin-abortion-funding-limit-ban-senators-joe-biden

How California Created The Nation’s Easiest Abortion Access — And Why It’s Poised To Go Further

By Kristen Hwang | CalMatters
Apr 21, 2022

By this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a decision on the most consequential challenge to Roe v. Wade since the landmark ruling in 1973 guaranteed the constitutional right to obtain an abortion.

If federal abortion protections are eliminated or severely weakened— as legal experts expect — a cascade of absolute bans will follow in more than a dozen states. Already, six more states are considering so-called “trigger bans” in the lead-up to this summer’s decision, while dozens of other state legislatures are considering 15-week bans, abortion pill bans and bans modeled after Texas’ controversial law that allows private citizens to sue anyone who helps someone obtain an abortion after six weeks.

Continued: https://laist.com/news/health/how-california-created-the-nations-easiest-abortion-access-and-why-its-poised-to-go-further

USA – Dems, despite their control, all but concede on federal abortion spending

By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN and JENNIFER SCHOLTES, Politico
02/15/2022

Though Democrats won’t publicly admit it, they’re soon set to concede defeat on federal funding for abortion.

After months of tense negotiations, the two parties joined together last week on a government spending framework they insist will swiftly lead to a massive deal to boost agency bottom lines into the fall. Officially, they’re agreeing to save specific policy disputes for later, including the longtime debate over the half-century ban on federal funding for abortions, known as the Hyde amendment. But Republicans are already declaring victory in that battle.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/15/ban-federal-funds-abortion-democrats-00008761

The whole world is watching for Biden’s plan to protect abortion rights

BY ANU KUMAR AND AKILA RADHAKRISHNAN
01/25/22

The first year of Joe Biden’s presidency came to a close just days before the 49th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade, which has served as the foundation for Americans’ right to abortion ever since. Yet, it could be the last anniversary we ever celebrate.

In the next six months, the Supreme Court is set to rule in a case aimed directly at dismantling the constitutional protections established by Roe. Given the realities of a conservative Supreme Court and gridlock in Congress, executive branch leadership and support of abortion is critical. The time is now for the Biden administration and federal agencies to take every measure necessary to protect abortion access. But it shouldn’t stop at creative domestic approaches — an international perspective is also needed.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/international/591194-the-whole-world-is-watching-for-bidens-plan-to-protect-abortion-rights?rl=1

25.01.2022

USA – The House Just Passed Federal Spending Bills Without Abortion Restrictions for the First Time in Decades

BY ABIGAIL ABRAMS
JULY 29, 2021

The House of Representatives passed a package of spending bills this week without provisions banning federal funding for most abortions in the U.S. and abroad, marking the first time in decades that the restrictions have not been included.

The changes face long odds in the evenly divided Senate, where moderate Democrats and Republicans have said they oppose removing the abortion limits, but the House’s move represents a milestone in the national battle over abortion access.

Continued: https://time.com/6085444/hyde-amendment-spending-bills-congress/