USA — The war against women’s rights

Documentary film: 1 hour 16 minutes
Deutsche Welle
April 28, 2026

The situation of women’s rights in the USA is increasingly dramatic. Radical abortion bans and unequal treatment in the justice system are leading to significant restrictions on fundamental rights.

The documentary reports from the USA, a country where women go to prison for the crimes of their husbands, and a man is allowed to marry a ten-year-old girl. Abortions are illegal even in cases of rape and incest. The documentary sheds light on the mechanisms behind Trump's freedom-restricting policies. The rise of the conservative-puritanical ideology of Christian nationalism has led to a massive restriction of the fundamental rights of US citizens in the USA. In many places, women are dying because of a lack of gynecological care. In states with radical abortion bans, more than 100,000 women have already been forced to give birth to a child after being raped. Since Donald Trump's return as US president, the future for women in the US looks bleak. The documentary looks at the machinations of anti-abortion centers. Through interviews, it reveals how these freedom-restricting and backward-looking policies work. But the film also shows resistance, led by those who refuse to accept these developments.

Continued: https://amp.dw.com/en/usa-the-war-against-womens-rights/video-76966507

Kenyan Court Strikes Down Ruling Protecting Right to Abortion

The decision, in a country where thousands of women die yearly from unsafe abortions, held that abortions deprive unborn children of the “right to life.”

By Pranav Baskar
April 24, 2026

A court of appeal in Kenya on Friday struck down a ruling that had affirmed the right to an abortion, dealing a blow to reproductive rights in a country where thousands of women die each year from unsafe abortions.
The decision, which is likely to be appealed to Kenya’s supreme court, holds that abortions deprive unborn children of the “right to life,” which it said begins at conception. “Abortion is not a fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution,” the judges wrote in their ruling.

Continued: https://archive.is/A1a7J
(https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/world/africa/kenya-court-abortion-ruling.html)

24.04.2026

Center for Reproductive Rights

Kenyan appeal court overturns ruling that affirmed the right to abortion

By Evelyne Musambi, The Associated Press|
Apr 24, 2026

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A court of appeal in Kenya Friday overturned a ruling that affirmed the right to access abortion, setting up a legal clash that is likely to be appealed again to the Kenyan Supreme Court.

The appeal was based on the 2022 case of a teenager who went to the hospital with pregnancy complications. A doctor who examined her determined she had lost the pregnancy, and provided emergency post-abortion care. They were acquitted by the high court.

Continued: https://halifax.citynews.ca/2026/04/24/kenyan-appeal-court-overturns-ruling-that-affirmed-the-right-to-abortion/

A Public Health Emergency: How Abortion Bans Are Fueling Maternal Deaths in America

People living in states that have banned abortion are nearly twice as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after compared with those in states where abortion remains legal and accessible.

Sylvia Ghazarian, Common Dreams
Apr 10, 2026

The maternal mortality crisis in the United States is a national embarrassment, and it’s unfolding in real time. The US continues to have one of the highest maternal death rates among high-income countries, and the situation is getting worse, not better. Behind this trend is a growing body of research showing that state abortion bans directly contribute to increased maternal mortality, especially in communities already burdened by systemic inequities.

Continued: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/abortion-bans-public-health

Zero Sum Game—Trump Budget Request Proposes Zeroing Out Family Planning Funds and Continues to Starve Global Health Programs

April 10, 2026
PAI

On April 3rd, the White House released its “skinny” budget for fiscal year (FY) 2027, proposing a massive $16.2 billion in cuts to the diplomatic and foreign assistance activities of the U.S. government, while making note that the administration does not believe U.S. foreign assistance funding should support “unfettered access to birth control.” The proposed cuts to the State Department and other international affairs agencies and programs reduce funding by nearly a one-third from the FY 2026 enacted level. Although a figure of “0” does not appear next to an international family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) line-item in any of the budget documents released so far, it is a virtual certainty that the Trump regime will not request any bilateral or multilateral funding for these programs for the second year in a row.

Continued: https://pai.org/resources/trump-fy-2027-budget-request/

10.04.2026

international family planning and reproductive health

The Trump administration kills children abroad while being ‘pro-life’ at home

In Georgia, a woman was charged with murder after allegedly taking pills to induce a termination. Yet America happily drops bombs on children abroad

Arwa Mahdawi
Sat 21 Mar 2026

How many children has the US helped kill this week in the Middle East? It’s hard to keep track, but Unicef reports that more than 1,800 children in the region have been killed or injured since the US and Israel started a war with Iran on 28 February.

In Lebanon, a US-backed Israel is killing or wounding a classroom’s worth of children every day, Unicef’s deputy executive director told Reuters. That’s just after killing more than 20,000 children in Gaza in two years, all with the help of US taxpayer dollars.

Classrooms full of massacred children sounds pretty shocking to any normal person. But remember, when it comes to the Middle East, the situation is always complicated. Certainly, our lawmakers aren’t losing any sleep over dead brown kids.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/21/trump-administration-pro-life-ice-israel-palestine

Zimbabwe – Traditional leaders thwart attempt to smuggle in contentious clause on abortion

March 15, 2026
Zvamaida Murwira

A CLAUSE in the Medical Services Amendment Bill that sought to legalise abortion was removed after traditional leaders protested, describing it as an abomination and taboo against traditional practices, The Sunday Mail has learnt.

The Bill had sailed through the National Assembly, but the Senate rejected it after traditional leaders said they could not approve of a practice that runs against traditional customs.

Continued: https://www.heraldonline.co.zw/traditional-leaders-thwart-attempt-to-smuggle-in-contentious-clause-on-abortion/

15.03.2026

News

anti-choice cruelty

anti-choice hatred

anti-choice hypocrisy

anti-choice misogyny

Fortune Charumbira

Medical Services Amendment Bill

Texas – The girls of San Benito, the center where Trump sends pregnant migrant minors

The Department of Health is transferring them to Texas, where abortion is virtually banned, despite objections from officials at the federal agency responsible for them

Jesús Jank Curbelo
Houston - MAR 13, 2026

Since last July, the Trump administration has been sending all unaccompanied migrant girls who show up pregnant at the U.S. border to a single center located in San Benito, a small border town in South Texas, the state with one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. In recent months, more than a dozen girls have been transferred to this facility. At least half of them became pregnant as a result of rape. Some are 13 years old.

In theory, everyone who arrives at the San Benito center has the right to be informed of their options, including abortion, through a notification called a Garza notice. In practice, however, that right is in jeopardy, according to Sarah Corning, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “We remain concerned that doctors will refuse to perform abortions for fear of prosecution, something we’ve seen happen far too often since the ban went into effect” in the state, she says.

Continued; https://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-03-13/the-girls-of-san-benito-the-center-where-trump-sends-pregnant-migrant-minors.html

Polish doctors jailed for denying woman abortion

March 3, 2026

Warsaw (AFP) – A Polish court on Tuesday sentenced three doctors to prison sentences over the 2021 death of a pregnant woman, which sparked nationwide protests and renewed scrutiny of the country's restrictive abortion laws.

The woman, Izabela, whose last name has not been made public, died of sepsis in 2021 while experiencing complications in the 22nd week of pregnancy. Her death came a year after a law toughening abortion restrictions in the mainly Catholic country came into effect and reignited mass protests.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260303-polish-doctors-jailed-for-denying-woman-abortion

State-Enabled Intimidation: How Anti-Abortion Extremism Is Undermining Legal Healthcare in Poland

12.02.2026
ASTRA Network

Poland is experiencing a coordinated and escalating campaign of anti-abortion intimidation and disinformation that directly undermines women’s access to lawful healthcare. This campaign is driven by fundamentalist actors and increasingly reinforced by political figures and state institutions that legitimize and amplify these practices. Together, these dynamics create a climate in which legally guaranteed medical services are systematically obstructed through fear, harassment, and institutional pressure.

Abortion Access in Poland: Law and Reality
Poland has one of the most restrictive abortion legislations in Europe. Following politically captured rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal, abortion is now effectively permitted only when a pregnancy poses a threat to a woman’s life or health, or when it results from a criminal act.

Continued: https://astra.org.pl/state-enabled-intimidation-how-anti-abortion-extremism-is-undermining-legal-healthcare-in-poland/