When it comes to women’s reproductive health, Canada is not the 51st state

April 11, 2025
By Laura Schummers and Wendy V. Norman

Voters who care about reproductive rights should be demanding clear positions from their candidates on protecting Canada’s legacy in reproductive health policy and access. As erosion of reproductive rights and freedoms unfolds rapidly across the U.S., this is not the time for complacency in Canada.

We shouldn’t assume that Canada will continue as a global leader in upholding reproductive rights and access.

Most Canadians have lived with evidence-based reproductive health policy for so long that they take it to be the global norm, but it is not. Since 1988, abortion has been legally recognized as a standard medical procedure in Canada, free from criminal laws that either protect or restrict it.

Continued: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/when-it-comes-to-womens-reproductive-health-canada-is-not-the-51st-state/article_fc30cbbf-ec69-4d6d-9641-748c206bd942.html

11.04.2025

Opinion

abortion pills

barriers to abortion access

Over 5,000 women in Europe have to travel abroad for abortions each year

Legal, bureaucratic and social obstacles are still faced by women, even if they live in countries where abortion is legalised.

7 Apr 2025

THOUSANDS OF WOMEN have to travel to neighbouring countries in Europe to access abortion care due to barriers faced at home.

A cross-border investigation, Exporting Abortion, exposes this stark statistic for the first time, following an extensive examination of data and personal testimonies across Europe.

Our analysis found that more than 5,000 women travel from their home countries every year due to the difficulties they face in accessing abortion care. In 2023, that number was at least 5,860.

Continued: https://www.thejournal.ie/investigates-exporting-abortion-europe-6666436-Apr2025/

Queensland introduces Australian-first law to allow midwives and nurses to prescribe abortion pills

Exclusive: Legislation hailed as big step towards providing fair access to terminations across state

Eden Gillespie
Thu 30 Nov 2023

Queensland will become Australia’s first jurisdiction to introduce a law to allow nurses and midwives to dispense pregnancy termination medication in a move expected to improve access in the state’s “huge abortion deserts”.

In August the Therapeutic Goods Administration scrapped restrictions on the prescription of medical abortion pills, known as MS-2 Step, to be used in the early stages of pregnancy. But it is up to individual jurisdictions to determine the specific healthcare practitioner and the appropriate qualifications for prescribing.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/30/queensland-law-abortion-pills-midwives-nurses-prescribed-details

Gynaecologist charged in Poland with helping patients obtain abortions

NOV 25, 2023
Notes from Poland

A gynaecologist has been charged in Poland with unlawfully helping patients obtain abortions, a crime in Poland that carries a prison sentence of up to three years.

Prosecutors say that the doctor, Maria Kubisa (pictured above), provided women with abortion pills without checking whether doing so was justified under Poland’s strict abortion law. She denies the accusation and says the authorities are trying to “intimidate” her.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/11/25/gynaecologist-charged-in-poland-with-helping-patients-obtain-abortions/

USA – To Make a Documentary About Abortion, They Had to Fight the Right’s War on Information

The experience was not unlike the obstacles abortion providers face.

JULIANNE MCSHANE, Mother Jones
Nov 17, 2023

In 2019, when Tracy Droz Tragos started filming Plan C, her new documentary about a network of activists and medical providers helping Americans access abortion pills—which are approved by the FDA but restricted in some states—she knew some people might see it as a touchy subject. But she didn’t expect she’d have to fight to find a home for the film—or that she’d come up against the same barriers as some of the activists she followed.

“It was not easy to get this out,” Droz Tragos said of the film on a Zoom call this week.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/plan-c-abortion-documentary-streaming/

17.11.2023

Film, Art, Books

abortion pills

conscientious provision

Abortion Pills Go Global

Regardless of the law, women can now access their own safe and effective abortion procedures in the form of these pills.

November 10, 2023

After Ohio’s recent vote to enshrine the right to have an abortion into the state’s constitution, host Robert Scheer dives deeper into one of the underappreciated and underreported aspects of the fight for abortion rights on this episode of the Scheer Intelligence podcast.

Sydney Calkin, a senior lecturer in the School of Geography at Queen Mary University of London, discusses her newest book, “Abortion Pills Go Global: Reproductive Freedom Across Borders,” and breaks down the myths and misconceptions about one of the biggest tools for bringing women’s reproductive rights to the forefront.

Continued: https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/10/abortion-pills-go-global/

‘I feel called to do this’: US providers sending abortion medication by mail

The documentary Plan C embeds with the organization sending FDA-approved abortion pills to recipients in all 50 states

Adrian Horton
Thu 9 Nov 2023

The question of why hangs over Plan C, a new documentary on efforts to expand access to medication abortion in the United States. Why seek a medication abortion? Because it’s safe, says one woman. (The two-pill combination of mifepristone and misoprostol, both certified by the FDA, are approved for the termination of pregnancy in the first trimester in 90 countries, although its use is severely restricted in the US.)

Because of the comfort and safety of being in one’s own home, says another in a montage of phone calls seeking medication abortion by mail. Because the fear of facing screaming protesters at clinics, because her family’s military doctor refused to tie her tubes at 24, because “I felt more comfortable doing this at my own pace, at my own time”.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/09/plan-c-documentary-mail-abortion-pill-ban

Poland: A hunt for traces of abortion pills in women’s blood

How researchers test for traces of misoprostol and mifepristone — the two drugs used in medication abortions — in women who have experienced a miscarriage.

Sushmitha Ramakrishnan
Nov 6, 2023

A 22-year-old woman arrived at a hospital in Wroclaw, Poland, with a dead fetus. She said she'd had a miscarriage, but hadn't known she was pregnant.

Her apartment, which was subsequently raided by Polish authorities, told a different story. Officials found painkillers, antibiotics, a used pregnancy testing kit and tablets commonly dubbed "abortion pills" scattered around the home.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/poland-a-hunt-for-traces-of-abortion-pills-in-womens-blood/a-67287124

How to Spot Abortion-Related Misinformation

Between pregnancy “crisis centers” and “abortion pill testing,” there's a lot of questionable info out there. Here's how to tell what's evidence-based and what's not.

Lux Alptraum
Oct 24, 2023

In mid-September, the New York Times Opinion section ran a piece with a shocking headline. “In Poland, Testing Women for Abortion Drugs Is a Reality. It Could Happen Here,” the paper breathlessly declared.

As I read the piece, I felt a shudder of panic go down my spine. For years, abortion advocates have been confidently assuring people that abortion pills cannot be detected in the system when they’re taken by mouth. An effective test for abortion pills could have terrifying ramifications—at a bare minimum, it could discourage people from seeking follow-up care after a self-managed abortion.

And yet, at the same, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right here. What was the scientific justification for developing such a test?

Continued: https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-spot-abortion-misinformation/

‘Have you bled yet?’: China doctor boyfriend secretly gives girlfriend abortion pills and sleeping tablets

- Woman tells urologist lover ‘good news’ but he does not want baby
- Medic puts drugs in girlfriend’s drink resulting in ‘massive bleeding’

Liya Su in Shanghai
22 Oct, 2023

The girlfriend of a urologist in China has claimed he drugged her with sleeping tablets then gave her abortion pills that resulted in the loss of their baby.

The couple had been in a romantic relationship since November 2021 and the woman, surnamed Wang, found out she was pregnant on May 14 this year.

Continued: https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3238491/have-you-bled-yet-china-doctor-boyfriend-secretly-gives-girlfriend-abortion-pills-and-sleeping

22.10.2023