Canada – My body, my business — abortion is a personal choice and right

Kathryn McIntee
March 17, 2021
Viewpoint: Reproductive Justice (Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada)

In August 2020, I was away up North when I suspected that I was pregnant again. My period was not late, but I experienced all the symptoms I felt in the past. I was alone when I took the pregnancy test that confirmed it. My partner was also in the North but in a place far more remote without any cell service. It was difficult not being able to share the unexpected news with him, but I knew I would see him in a week.

When I returned to the city, I decided to see a doctor to confirm the pregnancy and to request a referral for an ultrasound. I have been pregnant several times in the past, but many pregnancies ended due to an anembryonic pregnancy (also called a blighted ovum -- this occurs when an early embryo never develops or it stops developing; it is resorbed and leaves an empty gestational sac). An anembryonic pregnancy does not always result in a miscarriage, and so I have experienced both surgical and medical abortions to dispel the "products of conception that are contained in the uterus." I have also made a choice to end a pregnancy for personal reasons.

https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/viewpoint-reproductive-justice/2021/03/my-body-my-business-abortion-personal-choice

17.03.2021

Blog

Featured

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada

women's abortion stories

Poland: ‘I had an abortion’

(Video, 3:35 minutes)
10.02.2021
Deutsche Welle

Poland has one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe. An estimated 200,000 women from Poland seek abortions each year, either abroad or illegally at home. Marta Solek shares her experience with DW.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/poland-i-had-an-abortion/av-56525813

10.02.2021

travelling for abortion

women's abortion stories

Ilyse Hogue, Influential Abortion Rights Advocate, Will Step Down as NARAL Chief

In an interview, Ms. Hogue discussed a tumultuous era for abortion rights and the future of Roe v. Wade.

By Lisa Lerer
Feb. 8, 2021

For Ilyse Hogue, who announced on Monday that she was stepping down as the head of NARAL Pro-Choice America after eight years, abortion rights are at something of a crossroads, with Democrats facing the choice of whether to try to deliver on their promise of codifying Roe v. Wade.

When she assumed the role of president of the abortion rights group in 2013, the Democratic Party controlled the Senate and the White House and had a reliable liberal majority on the Supreme Court. Eight years later, Democrats are back in power but abortion rights face a precarious future.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/08/us/politics/ilyse-hogue-naral.html

08.02.2021

Democratic National Convention

Ilyse Hogue

Joe Biden

Naral Pro-Choice America

religion and abortion

Poverty and lack of awareness and access forcing many to resort to unsafe abortion

Even 19 years after legalisation, women’s struggle for safe abortion continues. As a result, they put their health at risk and are unable to exercise their rights, experts say.

Samiksha Baral
Published at : January 24, 2021

For months last year, Mina waited for the Covid-19 induced lockdown to end with bated breath.

When the government finally eased months of lockdown in July, Mina, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, was all set to run away from her home.

Mina had her own simple reason—she did not want to have the child she was carrying.

Continued: https://kathmandupost.com/health/2021/01/24/poverty-and-lack-of-awareness-and-access-forcing-many-to-resort-to-unsafe-abortion

This is Not Your Typical Love Letter: An Abortion Story

12/13/2020
by SARAH ALEXANDER

A new short film on YouTube tells the story of one young woman’s experience terminating a pregnancy while offering a glimpse into the plight of the contemporary generation to dismantle an archaic stigma.

This is Not a Love Letter is, in truth, a conversation. The film conveys with an impunative honesty writer Isabel Pask’s own experience soliciting an abortion in the U.S. It is sequential and deliberate in form. It is intimate and brazen in feeling. It builds to a catharsis that has the capacity to resonate with anyone who has ever felt silenced or marginalized. It exudes love, laughter and sisterhood. In Pask’s words, it is a commentary on “the resilience of women”.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2020/12/13/abortion-united-states-this-is-not-a-love-letter-youtube/

13.12.2020

This is not a love letter

Victoria Pedretti

women's abortion stories

Health

Human Rights

It can feel uncomfortable to keep telling our abortion stories – but it is still essential

Many experiences are like mine: unexceptional, not ‘deserving’ or ‘worthy’. The more of those testimonies we hear, the stronger we are in our fight to protect women’s rights

Emma Beddington
Mon 16 Nov 2020

One of the last things I did before lockdown was attend a rally supporting the protests against Poland’s constitutional court ruling that introduced a near-total ban on abortion. Hardening the country’s already terrifyingly restrictive current law, it would, if enforced, remove one of the few narrow exceptions still permitted: termination in the event of congenital birth defects.

The scale of protests in Poland has been extraordinary – and hopeful. With up to 100,000 people gathering nightly in Warsaw, they seem to have forced a pause in implementation of this appalling ruling. My damp, local version was less impressive – there were fewer than 100 of us (including dogs and babies), carefully distanced, in cagoules and masks – but no less moving, hearing young Polish women and men stand up and denounce a sclerotic, repressive ancien regime I’m desperate to see them sweep away.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/16/it-can-feel-uncomfortable-to-keep-telling-our-abortion-stories-but-it-is-still-essential

Polish pro-choice campaigner helps women bypass abortion law

Issued on: 31/10/2020

Seven years ago, Natalia Broniarczyk had an abortion despite stringent Polish legislation against it.

Now, she is helping other women do the same and taking part in mass protests against a further tightening of an already highly restrictive law.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20201031-polish-pro-choice-campaigner-helps-women-bypass-abortion-law

Amanda Shires on Why Abortion Rights Matter

In an exclusive op-ed, singer-songwriter discusses the crucial need for reproductive freedom in America

By AMANDA SHIRES
October 30, 2020

Amanda Shires is one of Nashville’s most celebrated singer-songwriters, winning widespread acclaim for such releases as 2018’s To the Sunset and last year’s debut from The Highwomen, the all-star group she founded with Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hemby. Last month, Shires released “The Problem,” a single recorded with her husband, Jason Isbell, that depicts an honest conversation about abortion rights. All proceeds from the song’s sales benefited the Yellowhammer Fund, a reproductive justice organization based in Alabama. In this exclusive op-ed for Rolling Stone, Shires elaborates on why reproductive rights mean so much to her.

I am not a baby-killer. I have never killed a baby. I have had cells removed from my body by a doctor. But no matter what the accusatory asshats on Facebook would have you believe, I am not chopping up and dismembering anyone.

Continued: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/amanda-shires-abortion-rights-op-ed-1082647/

30.10.2020

Philippines – ’Give women options’: Advocates push for decriminalization of abortion

OCT 26, 2020
BONZ MAGSAMBOL

'There are a lot of reasons why women need to get an abortion. It's not just unwanted pregnancy. There are victims of abuse and rape,' shares one guest.

"We want to give women options whenever they face a particular situation, and that’s not something we can judge them for."

This was what Shiph Belonguel, youth reproductive health rights advocate, said during the 3rd episode of Spilling the Tea, a webinar series held by Rappler and SheDecides Philippines, a movement that promotes the fundamental rights of adolescent girls and women.

Continued: https://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/relationships/advocates-push-decriminalization-abortion

Polish woman’s quest for abortion exposes conflicted society

By Alicja Ptak
OCTOBER 19, 2020

WARSAW (Reuters) - In April, in the midst of a nationwide coronavirus lockdown in Poland, Katarzyna found out that the baby she was carrying had a severe genetic disorder and would probably die before birth or shortly after.

She immediately decided to terminate the pregnancy. When she finally managed to, five weeks later and after meeting some 10 doctors, securing a fallback plan in Germany and researching home methods, she knew she would not try to get pregnant again.

Continued: https://ca.reuters.com/article/idCAKBN27429N