Asian Americans do not have access to abortion information, survey finds

Nearly half of respondents said they did not know where to access the medication if they needed it

Mary Yang
Wed 31 May 2023

Asian Americans do not have adequate access to information about how to obtain an abortion, according to a new report.

Cultural stigmas against conversations about sexual and reproductive health and a lack of in-language information on abortion has stifled knowledge of abortion care among Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians, researchers found.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/31/asian-americans-access-to-abortion-information

Australia – Women share difficulties and stigma around accessing abortion care with Senate inquiry

By political reporter Georgia Hitch
Feb 25, 2023

Feeling shamed and judged, travelling hundreds of kilometres and ending up significantly out of pocket: these are some of the issues raised by women in their own words with abortion access in Australia.

The stories were gathered by Monash University as part of an ongoing research project into what barriers, or enablers, there are for people seeking abortions.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-26/senate-inquiry-universal-reproductive-healthcare-abortion-access/102018234

25.02.2023

News

abortion stigma

barriers to abortion access

India has a liberal abortion law — then why are unsafe abortions so rampant?

An adult abortion seeker doesn’t need a husband or partner’s permission to get an abortion, and can terminate a pregnancy up to 24 weeks. And yet, 67% of the abortions in the country are unsafe.

MONDAY, JANUARY 02, 2023
Sukanya Shaji

When Dr Suchitra Dalvie was a trainee back in 1995, she was assisting in the surgery of a woman who had internal injuries following an abortion. “She had sepsis due to sticks being inserted in her uterus for termination of pregnancy,” Dr Suchitra, a gynaecologist who is now the Coordinator at the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership tells TNM. This is neither an isolated incident nor have things changed much in the last 25 years. “While such cases may be rarer in cities now, they are very much present in rural and semi rural areas due to lack of access to safe abortion services”, she says. Some studies estimate that at least eight women die in India due to an unsafe abortion every single day — 67% of abortions in the country between 2007 and 2011 are believed to have been unsafe. “Young women aged 15–19 were at the highest risk of dying from an abortion-related complication,” according to the United Nations Population Fund’s State of World Population Report 2022.

All this in a country that has one of the most liberal on-paper abortion laws in the world.

Continued: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/india-has-liberal-abortion-law-then-why-are-unsafe-abortions-so-rampant-171488

Despite victories, abortion still stigmatized, regulated in India

NEHA BHATT, NEW DELHI
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Dec 22, 2022

When Sakshi Bhatt, a Delhi-based journalist, required an abortion last June after an unexpected pregnancy, she assumed that she would be able to obtain safe medical care without much trouble. But Ms. Bhatt’s experience left her distressed and emotionally scarred.

“When the doctors realized I was not married, they were not supportive at all, and kept making judgmental comments like, ‘You are a girl, you should have been more careful,’” said Ms. Bhatt, who works at Outlook, a news magazine.

Continued: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-india-abortion-regulation-stigma/

On the brink: Why abortion access in Ontario is under threat

By Jasmine Pazzano, Global News
December 6, 2022

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade abortion rights earlier this year, Canadians speculated that this country would become a destination, if not a safe haven, for Americans who could no longer get care in their home states.

As it stands, though, the system in Canada is struggling to provide for its own patients.

Continued: https://globalnews.ca/news/9280268/abortion-access-ontario-under-threat/

Abortion access in Thailand hampered by stigma and limited resources

Sunday, 27 Nov 2022

BANGKOK (The Straits Times/ANN): After finding out in 2020 that she was five weeks pregnant, Kiri (not her real name), then 24, knew she wanted to get an abortion. “It was quite a clear option for me,” said Kiri, who had just started a new job and was not ready to be a mother or get married.

But the process took a lot longer. Not knowing any local abortion avenues, it took her three weeks of research, calls and refusals before she finally secured an appointment to terminate the pregnancy in another province, a two-hour drive from her home in Bangkok.

Continued: https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2022/11/27/abortion-access-in-thailand-hampered-by-stigma-and-limited-
resources

In Hong Kong, Accessing Abortion Is Difficult, Expensive, and Dangerous

by Justin Heifetz
Broadly
Nov 14 2016

Legal restrictions, overcrowded public hospitals, and steep private clinic prices often prevent young women in Hong Kong from terminating their pregnancies safely. For many, the only viable option is to cross the border into mainland China, where a host of other obstacles await them.

When Tina was 15 years old, she was on a break between classes at her high school in Hong Kong—just like any other day. As she sat with her friends at their desks, the skirt of her school uniform was suddenly drenched in blood. Her girlfriends pointed to the floor, where there was more blood under her seat. That morning, Tina had taken pills to terminate her second unwanted pregnancy—her boyfriend got them from an illegal clinic not far from her school. But no one told her what would happen next.

[continued at link]
Source: Broadly

14.11.2016

Family Planning Association of Hong Kong